


My Boyfriend The Whale Shark

by dementxa



Category: Free!
Genre: Attempt at Humor, M/M, POV First Person, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 51,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3459077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dementxa/pseuds/dementxa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angel was supposed to just make some posters for the swim club ... How he ended up joining is beyond him!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is a story that I've posted on ff.net a while ago. It's almost finished, so I decided to start posting the chapters here as well (and to edit them a bit too X3). I hope you like it - it's another OC/Sousuke fic (I didn't like how they ended Sousuke's story in the anime, so I've decided to give him a whole harem of OCs XD). Also, the story is from my OC Angel's POV. :)

_Uwah! I can't find my room!_

With my mind a mess, I scuttled through the hallways of my new school, Iwatobi High. This was only my second day and I was already going to be late unless I managed to find my classroom on time! I clutched my bag to my chest as I ran along the hallways, scanning every room.

_Ok, ok … So it should be around here somewhere … Right?_

"Waa!"

While running frantically through the hallways, I wasn't looking where I was going, so due to my inherent bad luck, I crashed into someone. Or something. Everything happened so fast and was in a blur, but I definitely felt like I had bumped into something as hard as a rock, maybe even harder. The impact sent me flying backwards and I winced quietly as my butt hit the tiled floor.

"Oh, hey … You ok there?" Apparently, whatever I had bumped into, it could talk.

I looked up and brushed my bangs out of my eyes. I gaped as I saw what seemed like a giant towering over me with a concerned expression on his face.

_Wow … he's **huge**!_

"Um … I think I am …" I muttered.

He offered me his hand and helped me get up on my feet. Now that my initial shock had died down and I could take a better look at him, I realized that he was still pretty huge. But he didn't seem threatening in the very least. In fact, he had one of the gentlest faces I had ever seen.

"S-sorry … I didn't mean to bump into you …" I apologized, rubbing the back of my head. I felt like an utter idiot …

"It's fine … You seem more ruffled than me anyway." He said with a soft chuckle. "Where were you running to by the way?"

"Ah … this is embarrassing …" I felt my face grow hotter. "You see, I'm new here and … I can't find my classroom." It was such a cliché! It was like I was in some manga …

"I could tell that. You're speaking kind of weird, so I'm guessing that you're not from here." He remarked.

"Y-yeah … my dad accepted a job here and we moved. Is my Japanese good, by the way?" I asked a bit nervously. "I've been studying it for four years but I've never been good at languages."

"It's fine." He smiled. "My name is Tachibana Makoto, by the way."

"Oh, nice to meet you, Tachibana-kun." I smiled politely at him. "I'm Angel."

"Angel … That's a nice name."

"Oh … Thanks …" I blushed.

"So where do you need to go? I could show you to your room."

"Really? Well, I have Chemistry. And I'm pretty sure that the room is supposed to be somewhere here."

Makoto stared at me for a while. He then chuckled and pointed to a door just a few feet away from where we were standing. My eyes widened slightly and I blushed even more. Just perfect … I made myself look like an idiot in front of an upperclassman. And the day had barely even started!

"W-well … thanks, Tachibana-kun …" I muttered.

"Anytime." He gave me one last gentle smile and then walked off. He probably had his own classroom to go to.

I took a deep breath and walked into the classroom. Moving to a new school and town was bad enough, but moving to a new country entirely was even **worse**. I felt different. In all honesty, people were nice to me, but I could feel that they treated me like an outsider. Maybe they just needed time to get used to me … And I needed time to get used to them too.

I took a seat in the middle row and got my stuff out. I was quite nervous – I still wasn't used to hearing Japanese during classes and taking notes at the same time. I had to concentrate, lest I wanted to fall behind.

I always got good grades in my Japanese classes back home, but coming to Japan and speaking with the natives was entirely different. Back home, my teacher used to speak slow and clear, making sure that every word was intelligible. Of course, I couldn't expect of native speakers to be as considerate. As I said, I needed some time to adjust.

To cope with my nervousness, I started doing what I always did when I needed to calm down – I started doodling. I rather liked my new school's mascot – I had no idea what that thing was supposed to be, but it was cute – so I started drawing it in different outfits and styles. This "therapy" helped, as I soon became too wrapped up in my doodling to notice anything else. Which is why I was caught off guard so easily.

"Wooooow!"

I jumped up in my seat and my sudden movement caused my shoulder to slam directly into someone's chin. I twirled around to see who had been peeking at my sketches from behind me and saw … uh, someone. I didn't know his name. He had slightly messy blond hair and kind of looked like a very excitable puppy. His eyes were teary – probably because of me hitting him on accident.

"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed. How was it that I managed to hurt two people in the span of a few minutes? I was definitely not having a good day.

He looked at my drawings again and seemed to forget about his aching chin immediately. He stepped closer and grabbed the paper, looking at it with sparkling eyes.

"Wooow, this is so cool!" He exclaimed – his voice was quite loud.

"Ah … thanks?" I was confused and slightly intimidated by his erratic behaviour.

"Nagisa-kun, don't take people's belongings without asking for their permission first!"

Another student had joined us. This one was tall and looked quite prim and proper, standing completely straight and with his uniform all neat and tidy. He was looking at his friend with a stern expression.

"But Rei-chaaaan, look!" He shoved the paper almost in the other's face. "See how cute this is!"

He sighed and adjusted his red-rimmed glasses, then took the paper away from the shorter boy and handed it back to me.

"I apologize for Nagisa." He said in a rather formal manner. "He sometimes doesn't respect other people's boundaries."

"Rei-chaaan …" Nagisa whined and nuzzled into his friend. "That's mean …"

I couldn't help but chuckle as I watched those two interact.

"It's fine, really … " I said, smiling softly. "I'm actually flattered – he seems to like my doodles a lot."

Nagisa gave me a wide grin and then suddenly he hugged me. I blinked - this action was not expected at all – and looked at Rei with a silent plea for help in my eyes. He sighed and grabbed Nagisa by the collar, then started dragging him away. I could hear Nagisa complaining and chuckled, shaking my head.

_What an odd pair … But they do seem very close._

* * *

By the end of the school day I was feeling exhausted. I had to be alert during all my classes so that I would understand as much of the lessons as I could. I couldn't afford to get distracted even for a minute.

_How do the other students manage to do it? I feel so exhausted!_

"Angel-chaaaan!"

"Huh?" Before I knew it, someone had jumped on me and were now clinging to me so tightly that I thought that they were trying to choke me. "N-nagisa-kun?"

He grinned at me with sparkling eyes and then nuzzled me.

"I have a great idea!"

"Ok?" I replied cautiously – this guy’s actions were unpredictable.

"You can make posters for our club! That way we can get new members!" He exclaimed.

"Um … Nagisa-kun …. I'm really flattered by your … request, but I don't even know what your club does." I really didn't know what to answer. This was all so unexpected! "And … well, I suppose I'll need to talk to the rest of your club, right? They need to all agree to this."

"Right! So let's go!" Nagisa grabbed me by the wrist and started dragging me somewhere – I supposed to his club. I didn't have much choice but to follow him.

Soon we arrived at the club – apparently it was the swim club. And it consisted of five people – four boys and a girl. I was surprised to see that I already knew three of them – Nagisa, Rei and Makoto. How odd, to meet them all in the same day …

"Hey, guys! This is Angel-chan and he's agreed to make posters for our club!"

"Wha-" I blushed and quickly tried to correct my classmate. "N-no! I haven't agreed to do anything yet!"

_Ok … Note to self, don't trust Nagisa. **Ever**._

"Can you draw water?"

I looked at the guy that was talking. I didn't know him. He had a calm, almost bored expression and his voice was even and dull. To be honest, it was kind of scary how unaffected he seemed by what was happening.

"You mean if I can draw the pool or something?" I asked.

He didn't reply. Instead, he turned to the window and stared at the pool. Alright … this guy was weird. I bit my lower lip and turned to the rest.

"Um … I could make one poster, as an example. If you like it then I can make some more and you can photocopy them." I suggested.

"Are you sure?" Makoto asked. "We'd be really grateful if you did that. We seem to be having trouble getting new members."

"Oh, in that case I'd be happy to help you!" I exclaimed. "Besides, it would be fun, right? Making posters." I smiled, suddenly feeling nostalgic. "I used to these things for the clubs in my previous school all the time."

"Then you must know a lot about it!" Nagisa exclaimed and nuzzled me.

His excitement was contagious, apparently. The others started to smile as well; even the apathetic guy was beginning to look mildly interested. I couldn't help but feel enthusiastic as well. I was going to do my best to help the Iwatobi Swim Club.


	2. Chapter 2

_Ok … it's got to be here somewhere …_

It was the weekend after I had promised the swim club to make posters for them. I had attended their swimming practice every day after class – I wanted to capture the club's spirit as accurately as I could for the posters – and I had become pretty close with everyone, even Haru-kun. They were quite a friendly bunch and I started to like hanging out with them. I even considered Nagisa’s overly cheery attitude as something normal now.

We had decided to meet in Haru's home so that I could show the team the drafts I've made of the posters. I was honestly kind of nervous about whether they would like them or not.

Following the directions that I was given, I soon found the house. It was hard to miss – Nagisa and Rei were standing in front of it and Nagisa – looking more like an excited puppy than ever - was waving at me and shouting my name. I blushed and hurried to them.

"Nagisa-kun, you shouldn't yell like that on the streets." I said, feeling a bit embarrassed by my friend's behaviour.

Instead of replying to me, Nagisa hugged me, wrapping his arms around my waist and squeezing me so tight, I felt that my bones would get crushed. At least, I could have sworn that I heard one of my ribs a crack.

"Ah … Rei-kun … A little help?"

After Nagisa had been successfully removed from me, we went inside the house. Makoto, Haru and Gou were already there. I smiled and greeted them. Then, I set the posters I made on the table so that they could look at them.

"Alright, guys … So I made a couple of different posters. Keep in mind that these are just drafts, please! The real posters will have coloured backgrounds and will be more detailed." I blushed brightly as I unrolled the posters.

Makoto and the others leaned closer to see better. They were silent for a few minutes while they were examining the posters. I just stood there, not really knowing what to do. Why were they so silent? Did they not like the posters? I started to fidget with my sleeve - I always did that when I was nervous.

"Um … I can make new ones!" I suggested when the silence in the room had become unbearable. "I promise that I'll do better and-"

"They're fine." Haru interrupted me with his calm voice. "I like this one the most. You drew the pool in it."

The others started muttering in approval too. I felt relief wash over me and sighed, my shoulders slumping down.

"W-well, then I suppose if you like the poster with the pool, I'll make the real one tomorrow so that you can photocopy it on time and place it all over the school on Monday." I smiled.

"That sounds great!" Gou exclaimed and clapped her hands. "Thank you so much, Angel-kun!"

"Don't mention it, I'm happy to help you." I replied, giving her a bright smile. "I just hope that these posters can help you get new members."

"Me too." Makoto nodded, his own gentle smile fading a bit. "We seem to have troubles recruiting new members. I don't know what else we can do – we've tried everything. We even won the relay race against the other school clubs."

"Oh … Well … I'm sure that you'll come up with something soon." I encouraged him. "You should lighten up, Makoto-kun."

"Heey, Angel-chan! Why don't **you** join the club?" Nagisa suggested out of the blue.

"E-eh? Me?!" I blinked and blushed. "B-but I'm not a good swimmer at all!" I protested. "I'll be holding the team back."

"Don't say that!" Makoto patted my back. "Rei couldn't even swim when he joined the club."

"Eh?" I turned to Rei, who had turned bright red at the other’s words. "Why would you join a swim club if you can't even swim?" I asked puzzled.

He adjusted his glasses and looked away, starting to mutter something about being harassed into joining the team. I kinda had a suspicion who he was referring to.

Nagisa giggled and hugged me.

"So it's settled! Angel-chan is our newest team member!" He chirped.

"W-wait! I never said that I'll join!"

But everyone had already started cheering – except Haru, who was still looking at the poster - so all of my protests fell on deaf ears. Rei sighed and adjusted his glasses.

"About the same thing happened to me.” He informed me. “Welcome to the Iwatobi Swim Club, Angel-kun."

* * *

"Looking good, Angel-chan!"

"You should straighten up, your posture isn't good at all!"

"This is bad, he doesn't have any muscles!"

"Don't be scared of the water or you won't be able to swim free."

"Could everyone **please** just stop talking!" I exclaimed. I could feel my face burning despite the chilly air.

I was standing on the edge of the pool, slightly hunched over and with my arms wrapped around my body. I knew that since this was the swim club, I was expected to be dressed in swimming attire, but I still couldn't get over the fact that I was wearing **a bright pink and baby blue speedo in school**! And the pool was outside, meaning that everyone could see me! And it was **cold**!

"Ok, Angel-kun, don't be nervous. Just show us what you can do." Makoto said in an encouraging voice.

"Um … I r-really don't feel like doing this …" I mumbled. "Can I go last?"

"Don't be shy, Angel-chan!" Nagisa grinned and gave me a light push, sending me toppling into the pool.

I was right – the water was freezing! As soon as I went under the surface, I felt like my skin had just become a size too small for my body. I quickly emerged from the water and cried out.

"Wahhh! It's cold!" I quickly climbed out of the pool and started jumping in one place, trying to warm myself up. "Why is the water so cold?"

"Hehe…" Makoto chuckled softly as he handed me a towel. "You just aren't used to the water temperature yet. The more time you spend in the pool the less cold it will become." He explained.

"I don't like cold …" I muttered while drying myself with the towel. "Can't we swim in a hot spring? I bet that would make swimming even better!"

"Hot springs are too small to swim in." He replied and patted me on the back. "Why don't you go and just stay in the water until you get adjusted to its temperature?"

"A-alright …" I nodded, blushing. "I told you that I'd hold the team back …"

"Don't say that, Angel-chaaaan!" Nagisa whined and nuzzled his head into my back. "You're doing well."

"I was in the pool for two seconds, screaming instead of swimming." I pointed out. "But I promise that I'll improve. I promise! Now that I'm a member of the swim club I'll do my best not to embarrass myself or my teammates."

"That's the spirit!" Nagisa grinned and gave me another one of his rib-crushing hugs. I couldn't help but smile as well – his enthusiasm was indeed contagious.

"Thank you, Nagisa-kun! Your support means a lot to me."

"What style are you going to swim?" Haru asked me.

"Hm … is there a style where I just float in the water like a jellyfish? Coz I think I'd be really good at that." He frowned at my joke, and I chuckled. "Sorry … W-well … What do you think that I'd be best at?"

Makoto observed me, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Hm … You'll need to do some training first to improve your stamina and strength." He said. "For now you'll start with breaststroke."

"That how I swim too! I can teach Angel-chan!" Nagisa’s face brightened. He took me by the hand and dragged me to the pool. "Let's start!"

"Ah, Nagisa, w-wait … The water's still co-aaggghh!" I screamed as he once again pushed me into the pool.

* * *

After what I had officially declared as the toughest week of my life, there was not a single part of me that didn't ache. Apart from swimming practice every day after classes, I was also coaxed into jogging every morning and evening with Nagisa and Rei. It was exhausting, but oddly enough, I felt happy. I felt accepted and the fact that I was able to do something so physically straining and not feel like quitting was quite the confidence-builder.

I had a new swimming suit – it covered my legs which I liked, because I still found the water freezing. It was black with purple and teal stripes. I actually liked it a lot, even though I wasn't used to wearing such tight clothes.

Of course, this wasn't some silly sports movie where the weak underdog becomes a professional athlete in the span of a five-minute montage. I still couldn't swim from one end of the pool to the other without having to stop to catch my breath. I didn't let that affect me, but I did feel quite discouraged when I saw that the others were so far ahead of me, swimming lap after lap seemingly without any effort on their part.

I wasn't going to give up, though. I asked all of my teammates for advice on how to swim better. Their answers were … a bit unhelpful. Haru told me to stay as much as I can in water so that the water could get used to me (I still wasn't quite sure if he was joking or not); Gou told me to build some muscles; Nagisa suggested that I stay a week with him so that we could sync our training schedules; Rei gave me a ton of books and articles about swimming; and Makoto advised me to just keep exercising, saying that the results took some time to show.

"Cheer up, Angel-kun." Makoto told me after our practice on Friday. "You've only been at this for five days. At least you manage to stay in the pool for a large part of the practice. That was something you were unable to do on Monday, remember?"

"Yeah …" I smiled lightly. "Makoto-kun … Do you really think that I'd ever be good enough to swim in a competition? I mean, that's the whole point of being in a swim club, right?"

"I wouldn't say that." He smiled. "Look at Haru – he just likes to swim. Of course, when needed, he also competes, but most of the time he just likes to be in the water. A swim club – any kind of club, actually – is about more than winning races. It's about learning how to be part of a team, learning discipline and sportsmanship, and having fun too. Clubs who only aim at winning prizes don't get far, I think."

"I guess not …" I muttered. What Makoto said actually made a lot of sense and also relieved much of the stress that had piled up during that week. Now I didn't feel so pressured to become a good swimmer so quickly. I could do it all at my own pace.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little heads-up: Angel's first language is English so whenever he or someone else talks in English, their speech will be bold and italic.

I was looking forward to the weekend. The whole week had been nothing but rigorous training – despite his innocence and chaotic behaviour, Nagisa could be surprisingly strict when it came to exercising and swimming – and so the couple of days I had to myself felt like a blessing. I needed some time to relax and regain my strength. Or at least to regain all feeling in my limbs again. I was certain that I wouldn't be able to leave the bed the whole weekend – my body ached all over due to all the exercising and even the slightest movement caused me pain.

On Saturday, I was woken up when someone started shaking me and calling my name.

**_"Angel … Angel?"_ **

**_"Wha- …"_** Still half-asleep, I groaned and turned to my side, hugging my pillow. A few moments passed before I could open my eyes ever so slightly. I saw my mother crouching beside my bed with a hand on my shoulder. **_"Mom? What time is it?"_**

 ** _"It's half past eight, sweetie."_** She gave me a warm smile.

I yawned. Half past eight … Who was even up at half past eight on a Saturday?! Crazy people, who else!

 ** _"Why are you waking me up?"_** I groaned again. **_"I told you that I was tired and I wanted to rest…"_**

**_"I know dear, but your friends are downstairs waiting for you."_ **

**_"What!?"_** I was taken aback for a few seconds. Then I sat up – it was unbelievable how heavy my body felt! **_"Why are they here?"_** I asked while trying to stifle a yawn.

**_"They said that you have swimming practice today."_ **

I blinked. Swimming practice? **Today**? I didn't recall Makoto saying anything about a practice the previous day… I rubbed my eyes sleepily and then got out of bed. My head was feeling kind of dizzy.

**_"Tell them that I'll be right down, please."_ **

It took me a little more than five minutes to brush my teeth, take a quick shower, get dressed and prepare everything I needed for the swim practice. I walked downstairs and saw that everyone was sitting in the living room, obviously waiting for me.

"Angel-chaaaan! Did you oversleep?" Nagisa asked in his usual cheerful voice. "We're going to be late!"

"Ah, sorry … I didn't even know we had a practice today." I apologized flustered.

"We normally don't." Makoto explained. "But we managed to arrange an extra joint practice with the Samezuka swim club today. Didn't you get my message last night?"

"A-ah …. I actually went to bed rather early and I haven't checked my phone at all … Sorry…" I blushed embarrassed.

"It's fine, you've been working hard all week." Makoto smiled and patted my back. "Now let's go. We have a little more than ten minutes until the train leaves."

Luckily, my home was just seven and a half minutes away from the train station, so we managed to get on the train on time. My friends were all chatting happily, but I was just sitting in my seat, trying not to fall asleep. I was tired and hungry – I didn't have time to eat anything before leaving home.

"Angel-kun? Are you fine?" Makoto asked with a frown on his face as he leaned down to take a better look at me. "You look kind of pale."

"I'm just kinda hungry, that's all." I replied with a small smile.

"Oh, then you won't have the energy to swim!" Nagisa exclaimed worried. He dug into his bag and pulled out some sort of round pastry with a cute cartoon face on it made with icing. "Here, eat this!"

"A-ah … Nagisa-kun, are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah!"

"Thanks." I smiled and took the pastry from him. It turned to be too sweet even for my taste, but I didn't care much at that moment. I just wanted to fill my empty stomach with something. "So where are we going? I thought that we had a swimming practice?"

"We do." Rei nodded. "But our joint practices take place at Samezuka Academy."

"So … Samezuka is a school too?" I asked.

"It's a boarding school for boys." Makoto explained. "They have a very strong swim team."

"Eh? They do?"

I looked down at my feet, blushing. How could I, who've only been swimming for a week, go and show my laughable skills in front of a team who were much better than me at it? It would be so embarrassing!

Makoto was obviously aware of what was going on in my head, because he smiled again and patted me on the back, trying to encourage me.

"Don't worry. Nobody will laugh at you or judge you." He said with a soothing voice. "Every swimmer begins the way you did, as a rookie."

"Thanks …" I muttered.

_I bet I'll be the worst swimmer there…_

* * *

"Woah, this place is huge!" I exclaimed, looking around.

_And full of people … The swim club must be really popular here …_

The captain of the Samezuka team – a large guy with frighteningly shark-like teeth – approached us with a scowl on his face.

"Makoto! You guys are late!"

"Ah! Sorry … That was my fault …" I explained, rubbing the back of my head and looking down in embarrassment. I was making a great first impression …

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"This is Angel. He's the newest member of our team." Makoto introduced me.

"Nice to meet you. Matsuoka Rin." He grinned, showing off his pointy teeth. "Angel, huh? So you're not from around here, I gather."

"A-ah … yeah … My family moved to Japan two weeks ago …" I nodded.

"It's tough adjusting to a new country, isn’t it?" Rin asked. "I lived in Australia for a while, so I know what it's like."

I smiled, feeling more relaxed now. Apparently Rin wasn't as scary as he looked.

"Come on, Angel-chan! Let's go change!" Nagisa grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to the changing rooms, completely ignoring my protests.

This practice was … different than our usual ones. There were more people here, for one. This was probably the reason why I felt like someone was watching me all the time. It was a bit unsettling. But the weird thing was … that as soon as I jumped in the pool, I didn't care who was watching me. I didn't care that I didn't swim as gracefully or as fast as the others. My whole being was focused on swimming.

_Maybe I'm catching some of Haru-kun's love for water…_

"Angel-kun, you did pretty well." Makoto praised me as I emerged from the water. "It looks like your training is paying off, hm?"

I smiled and swam to the edge of the pool.

"Thank you, Makoto-kun." I said and got out of the water. I walked to the bench where I had put my towel and started to dry myself. I was certain that I hadn't done **that** well, but I knew that Makoto was just trying to make me feel better and I was grateful to him for that.

I watched my teammates swim and couldn’t help but smile. Every time I watched Haru's perfect swimming form, Nagisa's exalted splashing, Makoto's professional strokes and Rei's ambitious diving – which he had copied perfectly from a video that he had once sent me – I felt inspired to improve my own skills. I was aware, though, that I'd probably never be as good as those guys. But that wasn't going to stop me from doing my best!

"Instead of watching you should be swimming."

I flinched and spun around, coming face-to-chest with someone. I looked up and my jaw dropped.

_Oh god … he's so handsome! And those eyes …_

"Um … I j-just got out of the pool …" I stuttered, feeling a blush settle on my cheeks.

"I know. I watched you swim. I wanted to see what Nanase's new recruit was capable of. Not impressive at all."

I bit my lower lip and looked down. I didn't know who that guy was, but he gave off this aura that he was not taking swimming lightly. His large, muscular body, his confident posture, his stern face – it was all evidence that he was **good** at what he did. However, it didn't give him the right to be so condescending!

"S-sorry … I know that I'm not a good swimmer …" I muttered.

"What kind of attitude is that?" He scowled. "You're setting yourself up for failure from the very start."

I blinked. Now I was completely confused. Was he trying to encourage me or to insult my poor swimming skills? Determined not to fall for whatever trick he was trying to play, I tossed my towel on the bench and gave the guy a soft smile.

"Alright. I'll make sure to think only positive thoughts from now on. Thank you for your advice."

I turned my back to him and walked to the pool. I could feel – or maybe I was imagining it? – the guy still looking at me and my face burned with embarrassment. That guy … He seemed really mean. But I had the weird suspicion that his hostility wasn't directed at me. Maybe he was just treating me like that because I was from another swim club? Maybe he saw me as an opponent or something? I sighed as I went to my teammates, who had gathered in one place near the edge of the pool.

"Hey, guys? Do you know who that is?" I asked as I pointed to the tall guy.

"That's Yamazaki Sousuke." Rei answered. As always, he knew everything. "I think he's a childhood friend of Rin-senpai, right?"

"Yeah." Nagisa confirmed. "I heard he's a very good swimmer. But he always seems so angry, doesn't he?" He added in his carefree voice.

"He sure does." I nodded, casting one last look at Sousuke. I shook my head and then jumped in the water, eager to shake off any more thoughts of him.

Practice ran for more than two hours and by the time it was over we were all tired. Panting and murmuring groggily, we all went into the changing room to get dressed.

I was just putting my goggles in my bag when I heard someone call my name. I turned to see who it was and found Haru standing beside me.

"Haru-kun?"

He stepped closer to me, glancing for a second at the others who were gathered a few feet away from us.

"Yamazaki …" When he spoke, his voice was even quieter than usual. "Did he say anything to you? I saw you talking."

I hesitated. In all honesty, I still wasn't sure what had happened between Sousuke and me. After our short conversation I managed to see him swimming. He was good, there was no doubt about that. And he was fast, too. I was quite impressed, to be honest.

"Well, he just told me that I should keep practicing." I finally replied. "Why do you ask, Haru-kun? Did … something happen between you and Sousuke?"

"You could say that …" He replied vaguely, looking away. "If he tries to do anything else to you, come to me."

"Ah … I will … But do you really think that he would try something with me?" I asked a bit nervously.

"I'm not sure. But be careful around him."

Haru's warning left me with a heavy weight in my stomach. Something was going on between him and Sousuke, I was sure of it. It seemed like something much more than mere competition …

"Alright, I will be…" I nodded, sighing. "But Haru-kun, are you sure you're not exaggerating just a little bit?" I asked, forcing myself to sound cheerful.

He didn't reply to that. Instead he just turned his back to me and started walking away.

"Haru-chan! Angel-chan! Are you ready to go?" Nagisa asked.

"Yeah." I nodded and grabbed my bag.

"Good work today, everyone." Makoto smiled at us. "You all did great. Now how about we go and grab something to eat?"

We all started murmuring in agreement and headed out of the changing room.


	4. Chapter 4

"Good work today, Angel-chan!" Nagisa exclaimed. Once again, my bones cracked under his tight hug.

"Thank you, Nagisa-kun." I smiled at him, hugging him in return. Him and I had got really close after I had joined the swim club.

Nagisa had come to the obvious conclusion that I could do with some more swimming practice and had come up with the bright idea that we could use the indoor pool in the newly opened swim club. He, Haru and Makoto used to go to that club when they were younger and their old coach – who now owned the club – was happy to help us, boasting that with his assistance I would be a world-class swimmer in no time.

I somehow doubted that.

But we had been going swimming in the club almost every evening. Rei usually joined us – no surprise there, I had noticed that he and Nagisa were **always** together - while Makoto and Haru preferred to jog instead of swim – this was actually the first time that I'd seen Haru choose something else over swimming. I supposed that this was because Makoto had said that he would rather jog.

However, this particular evening it was just me and Nagisa. Rei had excused himself, explaining that he had some errand to do. If I remembered correctly, he had said something about an appointment with his dentist.

"Are you ready to go, Angel-chan?" Nagisa asked me, holding his bag over his shoulder.

"Oh … Why don't you go ahead, Nagisa-kun?" I suggested. "I'm feeling kind of cold, so I'm going to get something warm to drink first. And someone needs to tell coach Sasabe that we're off now."

"Are you sure? Alright then! See you tomorrow!" He hugged me one last time and headed out, waving at me and shouting that I _better not be late tomorrow_.

I smiled and waved at him. Once he was out of the swim club, I went to the vending machines and put the coins in the slot, then pushed the hot chocolate button. It wasn't as good as the hot chocolate my mom made, but it was sweet and warm and that was good enough for me.

I took the plastic cup and held it with both hands, enjoying the soothing warmth. The evenings were still quite chilly and the water in the pool was cold, even if the pool was indoors. I started walking around the swim club, looking for the coach to tell him that Nagisa and I were finished for today.

_Oh … those photos …_

I stopped to look at the old photograph that the coach had put on the wall. Nagisa and Makoto had told me about the time they were in the swim club with Haru and Rin and had won a race, but up until today I hadn't had the chance to look at the photo. It was odd, seeing my friends in it. They were so young!

_Though Nagisa doesn't look like he's changed that much._

I giggled at the thought. It was true – the Nagisa in the photo was the same bubbly little thing that he was now. Probably the only visible difference would be his height.

Suddenly I heard the echo of footsteps behind me. Thinking that it was coach Sasabe, I turned around, ready to announce that I was leaving.

"Hey, coa- oh."

It was Sousuke. After our short chat during the joint practice and Haru's warning, I was quite wary of him. He didn't look too pleased to see me either. What was he doing here anyway? Didn't Samezuka Academy students have curfew or something?

"G-good evening, Yamazaki-kun." I muttered, looking away.

He didn't respond. Instead, he stepped closer to me, but he wasn’t looking at me. His teal eyes were fixed on the photograph.

_Oh. That's right … He's Rin's childhood friend …_

"They seem very happy, right?" I asked. "Well, they probably were. They've just won a race, after all."

His frown deepened. That's when I realized that he was staring at a single person in the photograph – Haru. I gulped. I could sense that something bad was about to happen and on instinct, I took a step back. However, nothing happened.

Maybe it had just been my nerves?

"What are you doing here anyway? It's past closing time." Sousuke finally spoke, turning his attention to me.

"Oh, well … Nagisa arranged it that we use the pool here for additional practice." I explained. "I thought that I needed as much practice as I can get."

"Rin tells me that you haven't been swimming for very long."

"E-eh … you two've talked about me?" I blinked and then blushed lightly in embarrassment. "W-well, it's true… I know that I have a long road ahead of me."

"I'm curious. What is your goal exactly?" He eyed me from head to toe. "Even you must realize that there is no way that you will become good enough to compete before you graduate."

"I know that." I looked down. "But honestly … That's not really what I want. I'm not really sure why I joined the club… I just want to do my best you know? Even if my best isn't enough to make me as good as Haru-kun, just knowing that I'm giving it my all makes me feel better about myself… ehhh, are you feeling alright, Yamazaki-kun?" I asked slowly and took a step back. At the mention of Haru's name, Sousuke's eyes narrowed and he started giving off this dark aura. It was **intimidating**. "A-ah … Sorry … You don't really like him, do you?"

He nodded. I hesitated for a second – should I ask him about that? I was curious to learn what had happened between him and Haru. But that was probably something personal …

"Um … By the way, what are you doing here, Yamazaki-kun?" I asked.

"It's none of your business." He replied curtly.

_Ouch … That was mean._

"Sorry … I was just curious, you know? I mean, you had to take the train all the way from Samezuka Academy… That's a lot of way to go just to get some fresh air …"

I **really** didn't know when to stop talking, did I?

Sousuke frowned and stepped closer to me, leaning down so that he was on the same eye level as me. I suddenly realized just how bigger than me he was and gulped.

"I don't need to explain my actions to **you**."

"I was just trying to make small talk, ok?" I turned my head and closed my eyes. I was scared, true, but at the same time being so close to Sousuke made my body temperature rise.

I had some **weird** kinks.

"Let's race."

"Wha-?" My mind went blank. Me race Sousuke? **Now**? I blushed and shook my head. "A-ah … sorry, but I don't think that's a good idea. I watched you swim that time, you see? You're a really good swimmer. You'll beat me without even breaking a sweat and I'll feel crushed afterwards."

"You're setting yourself up for failure again!" He frowned. "Stop thinking so negatively."

"I'm not!" I retorted, pouting. "I'm just being realistic. I've been swimming for no more than a few weeks. You've been swimming for years. It doesn't take much to figure out who'll win if we race."

Sousuke stared at me for a few minutes, then straightened up and took a few steps back. I sighed relieved – I was starting to feel like a cornered animal. Then, he spoke up again.

"You were about to go home, right?" He asked.

* * *

_Whatdoido? Whatdoido? **Whatdoido**?_

Sousuke had apparently decided to walk me home and was ignoring all of my feeble protests. The situation couldn't be any more **awkward** , as we were walking in complete silence and about two feet away from each other.

"Um … y-you don't need to do that, you know?" I asked quietly, looking down at the ground.

"It isn't safe for you to be walking home alone at this hour." He replied. His voice was void of any emotions.

"Then … shouldn't it be unsafe for you too?"

"I doubt that anything would happen to me." He chuckled lightly.

_I guess he's right … No one would even dare to assault someone his size._

"So … I heard that you and Matsuoka-kun are childhood friends." I said. "That must be nice."

"Nice?"

"Ah … W-well, Matsuoka-kun told me that he used to live in Australia for a while. It's nice to know that you two still remained friends even when you were so far apart."

…

Had I said something wrong again? I could have sworn that for a moment, Sousuke's eyes became darker. He didn't say anything though and I wasn't sure if I should ask him about it. It was obvious that I had triggered some unpleasant memories.

"I was just saying this because when my family moved here, I left all my old friends behind. And … I think that the distance may be too much for us." I sighed.

"If you are truly intent on keeping your friendship, then you won't lose your friends." He told me.

"I guess … But I'm always busy with school and the swim club … Plus there's the time difference … It's just hard to keep in touch with them, you know?"

"Where are you from?" He asked me.

"I was born in Wales."

"Oh, that's in England, right?"

"Er … no." I chuckled. "It's part of the United Kingdom, but it's a separate country."

"I see. You sure moved pretty far away from your home."

"Yeah, tell me about it." I sighed. "Oh, but don't get me wrong. I love it here. I've always liked Japan. I used to read a lot of manga and watch tons of anime. That's actually why I chose to attend Japanese classes back home – I wanted to feel as close to Japanese culture as I could. When my dad told me that we were moving to Japan I was actually really excited about it." I chuckled.

"But … you just moved here like that? Without knowing anyone?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "My dad accepted a job in a hospital here and decided that we should all move." I explained. "Did the same thing happen to Matsuoka-kun?"

"Not exactly… He moved to Australia alone. He went to a swimming school there."

"Oh. That must have been very scary to him – being all alone in a new country." I muttered. "I can imagine how tough it must have been. But it seems to have played out for the best, right? He's now the captain of a very strong swimming team." I added, smiling softly. "Plus, he gets to swim with his best friend. That must be nice too."

"It's nice being in the same team." Sousuke admitted, smiling lightly for a second. "But essentially, when you swim, you're on your own. Having your best friend on the team doesn't make you swim faster or better."

"Huh? But … your relationship with the rest of your team is important, isn't it?" I asked. "I mean, having your friends cheering you on while you're swimming makes you try harder, right?"

"If you are confident in your own abilities you don't need anyone cheering you on." He insisted.

"That's sad." I muttered.

"What is?" He asked, looking at me and narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Just the way that you think." I replied. "You think that you don't need anyone, right? That's good to some degree; it shows that you're independent. But … you go beyond that. Tell me honestly, besides Matsuoka-kun, is there anyone else you call a friend?"

He didn't answer my question. I sighed and shook my head. Just as I thought.

"What do you think of Nanase?" Sousuke suddenly asked.

"Eh? Haru-kun? W-well … I like him." I shrugged. "At first I thought that he was really weird. And I still think that sometimes, but not in a bad way. He's just different than me, you know. To be honest, I can't understand most of the things he says, especially when he talks about water and swimming." I chuckled.

"He's not as great as you think." His voice was ice cold.

I sighed.

"Look, Yamazaki-kun … I'm not sure what exactly your conflict with Haru-kun is, but can you please keep it between you and him? Don't try to include me in it. I just want to get along with everyone."

He looked at me with a puzzled expression, and then shook his head. Then he burst out laughing.

"You're so weird."

"W-well …" I blushed and looked away. "You're weird too! I can never tell if you're insulting me or trying to encourage me."

"Can't I do both?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes. There, he did it again, saying such confusing things!

"Do what you want." I sighed. "I'm too tired right now to argue."

Looking ahead, I was surprised to see that we were almost at my house. I didn't know how long we had been walking – usually I took the train home. I hadn't even noticed that we had been walking!

_Wait … doesn't this usually happen when you're with someone you like?_

I looked back at Sousuke, tilting my head slightly to the side. I still wasn't quite certain what to make of him. He was just as enigmatic as when I met him and he had managed to avoid all my attempts to get to know him better. But … I did enjoy talking to him … and he was handsome …

Maybe I did have a crush on him?

"What are you staring at?"

"Eh?!" I flinched. Sousuke's deep voice had pierced right through my thoughts, bringing me back to reality. "Ah, s-sorry … I was caught up thinking about something …"

"Were you thinking about Nanase?"

"No." I shook my head, resisting the urge to chuckle. Just how obsessed was he with Haru? "Ah, we're almost at my house." I looked at Sousuke. "Um … you know, it's getting pretty late. You can spend the night at my place if you want to."

"I can't. They expect me to return tonight. I'll get in trouble if I don't go back."

"Oh, I see. So Samezuka Academy has some pretty strict rules, huh?" I asked.

"That's only to be expected." He shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess… it looks like a pretty elite school." We had reached my house so I stopped and looked at Sousuke with a smile. "Well, thank you for walking me home, Yamazaki-kun."

"Don't sweat it." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. He actually looked embarrassed as I thanked him. It was odd, seeing him like this.

_Alright … I should just go ahead and ask him. Even if he says no… at least I would have tried._

"Hey … Do you think that we c-could … exchange numbers?" I asked shyly. "I m-mean, I really enjoyed talking to you, so I thought that maybe … we could hang out again." I didn't get any response from Sousuke and blushed embarrassed. "Ah! N-nevermind! I-it was j-just a suggestion!"

"I don't mind." He said with and even face and then took his phone out. "What's your number?"

"Oh … Right!"

We exchanged numbers and then parted – Sousuke headed to the station and I went inside my house. I climbed the stairs up to my room and set my gym bag on the floor next to the bed. I opened the contact's list on my phone and smiled as I looked at my newest addition – Yamazaki Sousuke.

_Oh god … I **do** have a crush on him …_

* * *

 

"Gou-chan … weren't we going to buy ingredients? What are we doing at a sports store?"

"We need to buy some supplies to make the team's meals even more nutritional. Especially **your** meals, Angel-kun!"

"Eh? My meals…?"

"Yes, you are still as skinny as you were before you joined the club! You need to build some muscles!" Gou said as she gave me a stern look and pinched my arm to show me just how muscle-free it was.

"Ah, are you sure you're not even a little obsessed with this?" I asked hesitantly.

She made a face at me, but before she could say anything there was a shrill, inhuman voice and someone jumped between us.

"Gou-san! Remember meee?"

"Ah! Uh … Aren't you Captain Mikoshiba's younger brother … uh, Kintarou?"

"Momotarou!" He corrected her. "Mikoshiba Momotarou! I'm a first year in the Samezuka swim team! My specialty is backstroke! My hobby is hunting for stag beetles!" At this point I noticed that Gou was looking rather terrified, but the guy kept on rambling, blissfully unaware that she was retreating from him. "The biggest one I've caught so far was eight centimetres! My favourite kind of spaghetti is-" He suddenly stopped talking once he caught a glimpse of me and his grin widened. He grabbed me by the wrists and pulled me closer. "Woaaaah! As expected of Gou-san, her friends are also cute!"

_Eh? Doesn't he realize that I'm a guy?_

Meanwhile Momotarou had started his exalted introduction again. There didn't seem to be anything that I could do to make him stop. Luckily, Rin appeared seemingly out of nowhere, grabbed him and pulled him away from me. I sighed in relief, but then I saw that Sousuke was standing right in front of me. I blushed under his intense stare.

_Oh, god, I have no idea what to do now …_

After Momotarou was sent away, Rin explained to us that he had brought some of the Samezuka swim club members to buy new swimsuits. Apparently Sousuke and Nitori – a second-year student whom I had met during our joint practice – had tagged along.

"So are the others here too?" Rin asked.

"Nope, just us." Gou replied. "We needed to buy some things so that Angel-kun can become muscular as soon as possible!"

"Gou-san! Gou-san's friend! What do you think about this? Or this? Or this one?"

Momotarou was at it again, showing us all kinds of rather flashy swimsuits. Finally, Rin seemed to have had enough of him so he dragged him away, holding him by the collar. We could hear Momotarou gasping for air even when the two were at the other end of the store. Nitori followed them. He looked worried – obviously there was no telling what Rin could do to the other guy.

"So, you want to build some muscles?" Sousuke asked me.

"A-ah … not really." I admitted quietly, glancing at Gou. "I've always had a small build. I take after my mom, you see. So I don't think I'll ever become as muscular as … well, you and the rest of the swimmers."

"Protein supplements will not help you much. You have nothing to turn into muscles." He reached out and grabbed my arm, squeezing it rather hard. I winced in pain. "You're literally skin and bones. First you need to gain some mass." He let go of my arm and shoved his hands in his pocket.

"Ah … thanks." I blushed lightly and rubbed my aching arm. "Well, I guess we should go, huh?"

"Right." Gou nodded. "Have fun you guys!"

"Bye." I smiled and waved at Sousuke before Gou and I walked away. I couldn't resist the urge to look back, so I did. I saw that Sousuke was still standing in the same spot, looking at me. For a second our eyes met and I quickly turned away, blushing like mad. "Ugh … this is killing me!"

"Hm? Angel-kun, did you say something?" Gou asked me. "H-hey … Your face is all red! Are you feeling alright?"

No … I definitely wasn't.


	5. Chapter 5

"Uhhh …" I moaned and crouched down, placing a hand on my rumbling stomach. "I'm so hungry!" I pouted.

"Ehh?! But you just ate, Angel-kun!" Rei exclaimed in disbelief.

"But my stomach isn't used to Gou-chan's meals, so it doesn't believe that I've already eaten!" I pointed out and wrinkled my nose. "I need some food that my body is used to."

"That doesn't make any biological sense!" Rei insisted, adjusting his glasses. "Besides, you didn't need to actually eat your bento. None of us ate ours."

"Nagisa-kun did." I reminded him. "Plus … Gou-chan made it herself … And I promised her that I'd get muscles. I can't go back on that." I replied, sighing.

_I even went ahead and agreed to have my whole diet changed because of it … Why do I always do that? Why do I always go out of my way and do things that I don't really want to do?_

"Don't worry, Angel-kun, as soon as you start building muscles you'll realize that it was worth it!" Gou exclaimed.

"I'd rather have a guy with muscles than just muscles…" I muttered without thinking and suddenly Sousuke's face popped up in my head. I clasped a hand over my mouth, blushing like mad. "Oh, no …"

I hadn't told any of my new friends about my sexuality yet, had I? That would explain why Gou and Rei were staring at me all bug-eyed. I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. How embarrassing …

"A-ah … I suppose I should have been more tactful …" I muttered.

"So you like guys?" Gou asked. "For real?"

"How awesome, Angel-chan! Do you have a boyfriend now?" Nagisa asked.

"Nagisa! That's a very personal question to ask!" Rei scolded him and folded his arms. "You shouldn't be so nosy!"

"Buuut we're friends! Angel-chan should tell us if he's dating someone!"

"Nagisa-kun, I spend all my time with you guys." I chuckled. "If I had a boyfriend, don't you think that at least one of you would have noticed something?"

"Maybe you have a boyfriend back home?" Nagisa suggested, determined to get an answer from me.

"No." I shook my head, smiling softly. "I **did** use to go out with someone, but we broke up long before I moved here."

"Awww, so sad…"

"What? Oh, no! It wasn't anything like that!" I chuckled. "See, we were best friends. In fact, we still communicate regularly even now and I still feel really close with him. We were friends since practically kindergarten. By the time we were fourteen, we were inseparable and around the same time we started to figure out our sexualities. And when we realized we both liked guys we thought that we should start dating. It all sounded well on theory – we were close, we had the same interests, we shared lots of memories together and we enjoyed being each other's company. But … it turned out that it wasn't enough. There was something missing, you know? That spark that makes two people attracted to each other … it just wasn't there." I smiled lightly. "We were together for a couple of months until we decided that it just wasn't working … so we broke up. It was a mutual thing and there weren't any hurt feelings, thankfully, so we still remained friends."

"Ah… So he wasn't your special someone?" Nagisa asked, pouting.

"I suppose not." I shrugged. "But that just means that I need to keep looking, right? My "special someone" is still out there."

"Right!" Nagisa gave me a huge smile and then nudged me. "Soooo … is there anyone you like, Angel-chan?" He asked, grinning like a little devil.

Once again, Sousuke's face came to my mind. I blushed and shook my head. Why did I have to think about him at the most inappropriate of times? This was so embarrassing!

"N-no!" And that was the truth! Maybe I **did** have a crush on Sousuke, but that didn't mean that I liked him, right? It was probably just something temporary and it would go away soon.

"Are you suuuuure?" Nagisa teased and poked me in the left cheek. "You're blushing a lot! I bet you're thinking about the guy you like right now!" He laughed.

"W-what?! Nooo…."

* * *

_Ugh … The sun is really bright today!_

Squinting my eyes, I put one hand over my face in an effort to block the sun from almost blinding me. I was sitting on the steps of a shrine, with my sketchbook lying on my knees. Since it was Sunday, I had no official swimming practice and Makoto had advised me to rest, worried that I might be pushing myself too hard. However, I couldn't stay at home because, well … there was food there. The **wrong** kind of food, according to Gou. I knew that if I stayed at home all day, I'd eventually be tempted to ruin my diet. And I didn't want this to happen, partly because I was determined to keep my word and not let my team down, but mostly because Gou scared me a little when she was angry.

"Oi, it's you … Angel, right?"

"Huh?" I looked up. The sun was shining so bright that I could hardly see anything. Two tall and blurry figures were walking towards me. "Uh …" The figures came closer and I could finally perceive who they were. I gulped when I saw that it was Rin and Sousuke. "Oh … hello." I said, feeling my cheeks heat up immediately, and set my sketchbook down beside me.

"What are you doing here?" Rin asked me.

"Oh, just killing some time. What about you guys?"

"Sousuke and I were going to see this movie that just came out." Rin explained, leaning on a pillar. "How come you aren't swimming? I got the impression that you're quite the hard worker." He added, smirking at me and revealing his pointy teeth.

"M-makoto told me to take it easy … I think he's worried that I might hurt myself or something." I chuckled.

"Well, it's true that you need to look after yourself. Nitori got a nasty cramp yesterday because he was pushing himself too hard." Rin clicked his tongue and shook his head. "He's so thick! I keep telling him to be more careful."

"Well, if he's working so hard that means that he doesn't want to let you down, right?" I suggested.

"I guess." He smiled lightly.

I turned to Sousuke andfelt my heart almost stop beating - he had taken my sketchbook and was rifling through it. What if he didn't like my drawings? What if he **laughed** at them? Those sketches weren't even that well-drawn! They were just doodles that I had done for my own amusement while being bored.

"You drew all of these?" He asked, looking at me, and I nodded shyly. "They're good. You should have joined your school's art club."

"I didn't want to join the art club." I shrugged. "I like drawing, but … well, I'm not passionate about it like most of the people in the art club are. It's not something that I want to do for a living or anything like that. I just like to draw when I'm bored or have some spare time, that's all."

"You draw pretty much everything, don't you?" Rin asked, glancing at my sketches.

"Ah, yeah." I chuckled. "I draw everything that catches my eye, really."

That was the truth. My sketchbooks were filled with sketches of buildings, plants, clouds, animals, people, and even oddly-shaped cracks in the pavement. Anything that had caught my interest even for a second, I sketched. And of course, I had drawn my teammates lots of times … and Sousuke too. I was glad that the sketches I'd made of Sousuke were in another sketchbook. It would have been really embarrassing if Sousuke and Rin saw them – I didn't know Rin well enough, but I was sure that he would tease me about it. He just looked the type to do that.

I reached out to take my sketchbook back, but to my surprise Sousuke didn't seem to have any intention of returning it any time soon. He just kept staring at the pages, but I couldn't read his expression. Rin glanced at his friend, puzzled for a moment before he seemed to realize something. He smirked in amusement.

"Here." Sousuke finally handed me the sketchbook. "Rin, let's go."

"Right." He nodded. "See ya later, Angel-kun."

"Yeah. Bye." I smiled, waving at the two.

I watched after them as they walked away and sighed slightly relieved. That wasn't as awkward as I had thought it would be. Still, I couldn't help but smile as I watched Sousuke and Rin – they seemed like such good friends, even if they did have a tendency to bicker a lot – something that they were doing even at this moment, it seemed.

I tilted my head to one side as I watched them, trying to guess what had happened. Apparently Rin had made some comment at Sousuke and was now looking at him with a teasing smirk. Meanwhile Sousuke had his arms crossed and was saying something with a scowl on his face. I couldn't hear anything because they were standing too far away from me. Finally, they seem to reach some sort of conclusion on how to resolve their conflict.

_Huh? Are they … playing rock, paper, scissors? How old are these guys again?_

It seemed like Rin had won. At the very least he seemed to be mocking Sousuke, shoving him playfully and waving his fist in the air. I shrugged and took my sketchbook. I started to draw again, trying to finish a sketch of the shrine that I was sitting in front of.

"Hey."

I looked up and blinked surprised when I saw Sousuke standing in front of me. Rin was still a bit further away, watching us with an amused grin.

"A-ah… yeah?"

"Would you like to go with me and Rin to the movies?" He asked.

"W-what?" I blushed. "Um … are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a bother …"

Before replying, Sousuke turned to look at Rin, who gave him a sly smirk.

"You won't be a bother."

"Um … alright then …"

I put the sketchbook and pencil away and stood up, flinging my bag over my shoulder. I gave Sousuke a shy smile and to my surprise he smiled back. We returned to Rin and the three of us headed to the movie theatre. I noticed with embarrassment that Rin was doing his best to shove Sousuke closer to me and blushed. What was going on?

"So … which movie exactly are we going to watch?" I asked.

"It's this new action movie that just came out." Rin replied excitedly. "It's about this high school track team whose bus crashes down and they find shelter in this old gym. I won't spoil it for you, but just know that the gym isn't abandoned."

"Eh … that sounds more like a horror flick …" I muttered.

"So what? Are ya scared?" Rin grinned. "Don't worry. If you **do** get scared, Sousuke will be there to protect you!" He slapped his friend rather harshly on the back.

_Um … he realizes he's being far too obvious, right?_

"Ah … That won't be necessary …" I blushed and looked down. "I actually find horror movies fun. It's all just special effects anyway, right?"

"Right." Sousuke nodded, giving Rin a deadly glare.

"Anyway … Sousuke, you lost, so now you have to buy the tickets."

"Fine." He replied calmly, shoving his fists in his pockets.

"E-eh … Wait, you don't need to do that! I'll pay for my own ticket."

"Don't worry about it!" Rin wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave them a tight squeeze. "Me and Sousuke have this agreement – whoever loses, pays for everyone. And he lost, naturally." He flashed the other a toothy grin. "So he's gotta pay."

"But he didn't lose to me." I pointed out. "He lost to you, so it's ok to pay for your ticket, but not for mine."

"Fine, he should take a go at you and when he loses, he'll pay for you too." Rin chuckled merrily.

"Eh … Why do you think that he'll lose?" I blinked confused. I had pretty bad luck when it came to these kinds of games.

"Coz he **always** loses!"

Sousuke frowned and crossed his arms, looking away from us. I felt bad for him – I could imagine how embarrassing this must be for him. I smiled lightly at him and tried to free myself from Rin's tight grasp.

"I don't think we need to do anything like that." I said, trying to be firm. "Either I pay for my own ticket or I'm not going."

"Hehe …" Rin snickered. "So you're tougher than you look, huh?" He looked at Sousuke, then leaned in and whispered something to him. Sousuke replied by kicking him hard in the shin. "Ouch! You jerk!" And they were at it again, squabbling.

I chuckled. Those two were just like a pair of kittens. They were playing, but at the same time I had the feeling that one wrong gesture, one word too much and everything could get serious. Still, it was nice to see Sousuke acting the way he was right now. He seemed to be more at ease around Rin and not his usual stoic self. He showed such genuine emotions – he was smiling and laughing; what a nice sight … I thought this behaviour suited him way more than his usual grumpy aura.

_I wish that he could be like that with me too … it would be nice if I could make him smile at least once._


	6. Chapter 6

The movie theatre we were headed to wasn't far away from the shrine. It was a small, kind of run-down place that showed mostly low-rated or unpopular movies. At least that was the impression I got while observing the obscure posters that hung on the walls. This probably explained why they were showing a horror flick in the middle of the day.

"Hmm … There don't seem to be many people here…" I commented, looking around. That wasn’t exactly the truth – Rin, Sousuke and I were the only people around, if you didn't count the person behind the counter who was selling the tickets.

"That’s even better. It would be awesome if we could have the movie theatre to ourselves, eh?" Rin grinned and nudged his friend in the ribs with his elbow. "Sousuke, buy me some popcorn too." He ordered, smirking.

"I never agreed to buy you food, you jackass, only tickets." Sousuke replied coldly, frowning at the redhead.

"You agreed to pay for the movie, and what's a movie without snacks? Right, Angel?" He grinned as he turned to me for support.

"A-ah … well, normally I'd agree… but now…"

"Oh, right, Gou told me that you're on a special, muscle-building diet." Rin smirked. "How's it going so far?"

"Horrible!” I exclaimed. “I'm craving even foods that I didn't like eating. I guess it's that whole forbidden fruit thing … literally! Gou told me not to eat kiwis and now I want to eat them. And I **hate** kiwis!" I sighed. "I guess my will isn't as strong as I thought, huh?"

"You'll be fine. You just need to get used to it." He looked at me from head to toe. "It must be hard, huh? You look like one of those people who only eat lettuce and carrots."

"What? I do?" I chuckled. "Actually, I used to eat a lot. Especially sweets – I'm a sucker for ice cream with sprinkles and chocolate syrup. I just… well, I seem to have a fast metabolism or something, because I've always been skinny no matter how much I eat." I shrugged. "My mom's like that too, so I guess I've got it from her."

"If it's your genetics then you'll build muscles even slower." Sousuke said, looking at me with an even face.

"Yeah, I know that." I nodded. "But I promised my friends and I can't go back on my word. So I should at least try my best, right? If I do my best but still fail, then it just wasn't meant to be."

"I'm curious." Sousuke turned to look at me. "You told me that you didn't want muscles. So why are you on this diet then?"

"I … don't really know." I replied, looking down at the ground and blushing. "I just … I can't seem to say no to my teammates. You know, at first I was supposed to just make them a few posters to recruit new members. That was all. And then they asked me to join … so I did. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a lot of fun and I don't regret joining the swim club at all! Haru, Makoto, Rei, Nagisa, Gou … They're all really amazing people. I'm happy that they are my friends." I smiled. "It's fun, swimming with them."

"Swimming is about more than just having fun." Sousuke said.

"Maybe to you." I replied with a soft smile, not affected by his lecturing tone. "You and Matsuoka-kun want to swim professionally, right? That's why you are so serious about swimming."

"Right!" Rin grinned and shoved me playfully, making me lose my balance. I had to grab Sousuke's arm to stop myself from falling down. I blushed and hastily started to apologize.

"Rin, be careful." Sousuke scolded his friend. "What if he had got hurt?"

"But he didn't." Rin smirked and I could have sworn that he winked at me. "You were there to catch him." He snickered. "Now, let's go. We're gonna miss the movie if we keep hanging here."

"Right." I nodded.

"You and Sousuke go buy the tickets. I need to go to the restroom." He slapped Sousuke on the back. "Be sure to get good seats!" He winked again and left.

Sousuke sighed and shook his head slightly, glaring after Rin.

"Um … is it me or is Matsuoka-kun acting different than he usually does?" I asked a bit flustered. "He seems to be … uh, really intent on having me around …" I blushed. "B-but I could be wrong!"

Sousuke looked at me, but didn't say anything. Maybe I **was** wrong? I had only met Rin a couple of times, so I didn't know him that well. Maybe this really was how he behaved outside of swimming practice. And as for Sousuke looking so annoyed about Rin's antics … well, they were best friends and what kind of best friend would Rin be if he didn't take every chance to embarrass Sousuke? At least that what **my** best friend did back home.

"Let's go get the tickets." Sousuke said calmly. "And don't worry about Rin."

"If you say so … " I muttered. "Hey, Yamazaki-kun … Do you really want me here? I mean, I could think up some excuse and leave if you don't want me to watch the movie with you and Matsuoka-kun …"

"It's fine. You can stay if you want to." He replied, looking at me. "So you really like horror flicks?" He asked.

"Well, I think they're entertaining and a nice way to kill a couple of hours." I replied. "To be honest, I do like movies with some sort of complicated plot. You know, the types that you need to watch a second time just to understand what's happened. And horror flicks … well, they aren't exactly masterpieces when it comes to plots." I chuckled. "It's more blood, guts and monsters."

"True." Sousuke nodded. He placed his hand on my back and I flinched slightly – his hand was so big and warm! "Let's go get those tickets then."

* * *

"Man, that was a cool movie!" Rin exclaimed while we were walking out of the movie theatre. He looked at me and smirked. "Though a few times it looked like you were scared. I thought you said this was all special effects." He teased.

"I wasn't scared, I was disgusted." I replied. "Some of the scenes were just really graphic." I shuddered. "What kind of monster was that anyway? I haven't seen anything like it before and I don't think they ever made it clear in the movie …"

"They never even showed it clearly." Sousuke agreed with me. "All we got was some blurry point of view shots and a few patches of scaled skin."

"That's because it's scarier if they keep the monster a secret!" Rin insisted. "You know, fear of the unknown and all that …"

"Fear of the unknown is one thing. But that monster was just gross." I pouted. "And it didn't make sense – if the monster needs fresh human organs, how was it able to survive when it's said that the gym has been abandoned for more than thirty years? And how was it able to lay those eggs we saw in the end scene when it was only one monster? How was it able to reproduce?"

"Man, you ask too many questions!" Rin groaned and cracked his knuckles. “It’s just a movie.”

"Maybe … " I chuckled. "Come on, you have to admit that there were a lot of plot holes in that flick."

"Tsk … Fine." He shrugged. "I still liked it."

I chuckled and turned to Sousuke.

"What about you, Yamazaki-kun?" I asked. Sousuke was silent throughout the whole movie, a stark contrast to Rin who kept nudging me and pointing at the screen, the constant stream of comments (“ _Whoa, look at that! Wait, who’s that guy?_ ”) never ceasing. "What did you think of the film?"

"Whatever." He replied, with his hands in his pockets.

"So you didn't like it?" I asked, frowning a bit.

"It was okay, I guess." He shrugged.

I blinked and looked at Rin questioningly. Sometimes I couldn't understand what Sousuke was saying at all. It seemed like he wasn't one to show what he was thinking or feeling so easily.

"So … this was really fun, but I think that I should head home. I have this huge Math test tomorrow and I'd like to go over my notes one last time." I said, giving the two a light smile.

"You know, Sousuke is very good at Math, he could help you with your studying." Rin suggested with a toothy grin. The other glared at him.

"Ah … it's fine, I don't think I need help." I chuckled. "I'm not as hopeless as you might think, Matsuoka-kun!"

"I didn't say you were hopeless." He snickered. "But you could always use some extra help, right? And I'm sure that Sousuke will be **exalted** to help you!"

"Well, if I need help, he'll be the first I call." I chuckled softly. "Anyway, I'll be going home now. It was really fun hanging out with you guys. Thanks for inviting me to come with you."

"No problem, it was fun having you around. Maybe we can hang out again." Rin glanced at Sousuke and nudged him in the ribs. "What do you think, Sousuke?" In response, Sousuke just glared at him.

"Ah … I'd like to hang out with you guys again too." I said, blushing. "Well, see you at our next joint practice."

"Yeah. See ya around, Angel."

"Bye." Sousuke said in a dull voice.

I waved at them and started walking away. I kind of didn't want to leave Rin and Sousuke – despite Rin's slightly embarrassing behaviour, I still ended up having a lot of fun with the two - but I didn't want to neglect my school work as well.

"Hey."

I turned around and saw Sousuke running towards me. I stopped walking and looked at him, waiting to see what he wanted.

"What is it, Yamazaki-kun?"

He stopped less than a foot away from me. I blinked confused as I noticed his slightly flushed cheeks. Was I wrong or did he look kind of flustered?

"The thing is …" He looked away and rubbed his upper arm. "I … liked that you came with us today."

"Oh." I blushed. "W-well … I'm glad you think so, Yamazaki-kun."

"Yeah …" He glanced back at Rin, as if looking for encouragement. "Good luck on your test tomorrow."

"Thanks." I smiled and turned to leave again. "Bye, Yamazaki-kun."

"Wait." I stopped and looked back at Sousuke. He stared at me for a whole minute, not moving or speaking at all. I raised my eyebrows, not really understanding what was happening. Suddenly, Sousuke leaned down and pecked me on the cheek. The kiss lasted no more than a fraction of a second and I wasn't even sure if it truly had happened or not. Sousuke straightened up again and turned his back to me. "Bye." He said and started walking away. I could see his bright red ears even after he had returned to Rin.

"Yeah …" I muttered in a total daze, placing a hand on my cheek. "Bye …"


	7. Chapter 7

"The prefectural tournament is tomorrow, so everyone make sure that you get a good rest tonight!" Makoto said, giving us his trademark gentle smile, while we were walking home from swimming practice. I had known him for a while now, and I had never seen that smile leave his face.

"Thanks, Mako-chan! You take care too!" Nagisa grinned and waved his fist in the air. "And let's all do our best tomorrow!"

We chatted for a little longer and then parted ways – Makoto and Haru went one way, and Nagisa, Rei, and I went another. Nagisa noticed that I was looking down at my feet while I was walking and smiled, having guessed what was going through my head. He gave me a playful poke in the ribs to get my attention.

"Don't worry, Angel-chan, you will do fine tomorrow!" He smiled.

"I'll probably finish last …" I muttered. After a lot of persuasion, I had finally agreed to take part in the 100 m breaststroke event. Makoto kept telling me that my time was very good and that I had a real chance of making it, but I wasn't so sure. Maybe he was just trying to cheer me up. "Ugh …. I never should have agreed to participate!" I covered my face with my hands, letting out a low groan. "I'll be the laughing stock of the whole competition!"

"No, you won't." Rei smiled softly and Nagisa nodded in agreement. "You've improved so much since you joined the club."

"That's right!" Nagisa grinned. "Even if you don't manage to do as well as you'd like, at least you'll have a taste of what's it like to be in a swimming competition, so you won't be as nervous next year."

"Thanks." I smiled at them, touched by how supportive my friends were. "I promise that I'll do my best. But … well, I don't want to be negative, but could you guys please not get your hopes up very much? I just don't want to feel like I've disappointed you if I don't qualify."

"You can never disappoint us, Angel-chan!" Nagisa grinned and hugged me. "Just remember to have fun!"

"Alright." I chuckled. "Thank you, Nagisa-kun."

* * *

A few hours later I was almost ready to go to bed – I had eaten my muscle-building dinner, I had my gym bag prepared for the tournament tomorrow, and I had a large T-shirt instead of pyjamas on. Now I was in the bathroom, brushing my teeth. I was still feeling very nervous – now that I was alone, all I could think about was what would happen tomorrow. Somehow I kept imagining the worst-case scenario … What if I slipped on the block and messed up my dive? What if I got a bad cramp while swimming? What if I accidentally took a breath underwater and started drowning?

I returned to my bedroom and climbed on the bed, fluffing my pillow. Then I checked my alarm clock to make sure that it was set – the last thing I wanted was to over-sleep accidentally.

"Hm?" I looked at my phone which was buzzing from the nightstand. I took it and my eyes widened when I saw that I had received a text from Sousuke. "What could he want at this hour?"

_[I'm at the station near your house. Can you come?]_

I furrowed my eyebrows as I stared at my phone's screen in confusion. Why would Sousuke text me all of a sudden? This was the first time that he had ever contacted me since we exchanged numbers… And besides, he was swimming in the competition tomorrow. We would certainly see each other then … So why would he text me so urgently to come to the station?

I looked at the time. It was a bit late and I wanted to have a good night's rest, but … this was Sousuke. He was asking me to come and see him - something that he had never done before on his own volition. How could I not go?

_I guess I can spare half an hour at least … It would be rude not to see what he wants._

I sent Sousuke a message that I'd be there in five minutes, and then got out of bed. I put on a pair of worn-out jeans and a pair of old sneakers and then left my room. When my mother saw me leave and asked me where I was going so late, I told her that I was going out for some fresh air, explaining that I was feeling a bit nervous about tomorrow's race and just needed to calm down.

I jogged to the station and found Sousuke standing near the entrance, leaning on a pillar with his hands in his pockets. He was looking down at the ground and his eyes were closed. When he heard me coming closer, he looked up and gave me a light smile. That made me blush, but I couldn’t help but think that the whole situation was kind of odd.

"Ah … hi." I greeted him shyly. He didn't say anything and after a minute of silence, I spoke again. "Um … why did you ask me to come here?"

"Tomorrow we'll be rivals."

I blinked at the statement and then bit my lower lip – of course, our teams would be competing against each other tomorrow, but that didn't really mean that we should act like rivals, right?

"W-well … technically, yes, our teams will be rivals." I nodded. "But I don't think that you and I will be … I mean, we won't even be competing in the same event! I doubt that you'll be swimming in the 100 meter breaststroke."

"You won't be swimming in the relay?" He asked.

"Of course not!" I laughed. "I watched Haru, Makoto, Rei and Nagisa practice for the relay and they were just so perfect together! They were like some sort of machine, you know? Perfect harmony." I smiled. "Besides, I'm not a good enough swimmer to participate in a relay. I wouldn't even be participating if Makoto hadn't persuaded me."

"I think you'll do great in your event." Sousuke smiled lightly. "I hear that you've been working hard."

"Ah … Thanks." I blushed again. It felt so odd being complimented by him. "Good luck to you tomorrow."

"Thanks. But luck has almost nothing to do with swimming."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to have some." I chuckled. "But I still don't understand why you wanted to see me … We'll see each other tomorrow before the events for sure."

"But tomorrow we will be officially rivals. I wanted to see you before that."

"Oh." So Sousuke was firmly intent on viewing me as his rival then? "Well, in that case … How about we agree that whatever happens in the tournament stays there. Once it's over, it wouldn't matter who qualified and who didn't. Once the events are done, we are no longer rivals. How does that sound?" I suggested.

"Alright." He raised his fist and I chuckled lightly as I bumped it with my own fist. "That sounds reasonable."

"Yeah, besides, it's ju-Ah!" I gasped and shivered as a cold gust of wind blew our way. I could feel goosebumps forming all over my skin.

"You should have worn something warmer." Sousuke reprimanded me. He took his jacket off and wrapped it around my shoulders. "Here."

"T-thanks …" I blushed. Sousuke’s jacket was warm and smelled like him; he had a nice, masculine scent which I really liked. "B-but … aren't you going to be cold? I don't want you to get sick right before the tournament …"

"I'll be fine." He smiled lightly. "Besides, I don't want **you** to get sick."

I smiled and looked down, trying to hide my embarrassment. Still, I couldn't help but wonder why Sousuke was acting so nice to me. He was usually so aloof around people. Not that I minded, of course. I actually liked that he was being friendly for a change.

_I wonder just how nice he could be?_

"Hey … You must have been in a lot of swimming competitions, huh?" I muttered.

"I have." He nodded.

"So … How do you deal with all the anxiety?" I asked.

He was silent for a while, obviously pondering my question.

"I don't remember ever being anxious." He finally replied. "I know that I am good at swimming, so why should I feel anxious?"

"Hehe … " I chuckled. "Well, it may work for you, but I am not as good as you, so I am really nervous about tomorrow. I've been having this nightmare that I forget my swimsuit and I try to swim in my underwear but it's not allowed so the Iwatobi team gets disqualified because of me." I sighed, looking down at my feet. "So horrible …" I muttered.

I looked up when I suddenly heard an odd snorting sound. To my surprise it turned out to be Sousuke trying to conceal his laughter. I blushed in embarrassment and pouted, punching him playfully in the shoulder.

"Hey! I was sharing my fears with you! D-don't laugh!"

"S-sorry! But that's just … so ridiculous!" He snickered.

I huffed and crossed my arms, turning my back to Sousuke.

"I'm never sharing a secret with you again …" I muttered.

"Sorry." He apologized again, this time with a calmer voice, and patted me on the back. "But are you still feeling nervous?"

"I …" I stopped and blinked. "No … Actually, I'm not." I turned to look at him with amazement. "You were actually trying to distract me?" I asked.

"It wasn’t that hard, to be honest." He explained, smirking. "And that story was rather funny. But even if you forget your swimsuit, there'll still be enough time to go get a new one."

"I guess … But with a wonderful start like that, having forgotten my swimsuit, how can I expect to do well?"

"You can try to swim in the nude." He said with a smirk. "Maybe once the judges see those freckles on your butt they'll put you in first place."

"That would make the judges quite the perverts, if you ask m- Waaaait …" I eyed Sousuke suspiciously. "How do **you** now about my freckles **there**?"

"I caught a glimpse of them when you were changing after one of our joint practices."

"You stared at my butt long enough to notice that I have freckles there?" I blinked. "I'm not sure if I should feel creeped out or flattered …"

_Creeped out … Definitely creeped out._

"It's not like I did it on purpose." He shrugged. "I just looked up and saw you."

I blushed brightly. Ok, maybe staring at me while I was changing was kind of unsettling, but … well, it was Sousuke! It was the guy I had a crush on and if he liked the freckles on my butt then … well, that was good, right? At least he liked **something** about me.

"Um … So I think that I should go back home … " I muttered. "It's getting kind of late and we both need some sleep, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded and looked at me, hesitant for a moment. "Can I … um … no, nevermind."

"What is it?" I asked curious.

"Forget it." He looked away, frowning slightly.

I sighed and shook the jacket off of me, handing it back to Sousuke.

"Thank you for the jacket. It was really warm." I smiled.

"You’re welcome." He replied, taking it from me.

"So … I'll see you tomorrow then." I was about to leave when I suddenly found myself surrounded by a pair of strong arms. I blinked surprised and shifted a bit when I realized that Sousuke was actually hugging me. "Um … Sousuke?"

"Sorry." He muttered. He had his nose buried in my hair and his warm breath made me shiver.

"N-no … you don't need to apologize." I smiled softly and wrapped my arms around him – it was like trying to hug a huge rock. "Is this what you wanted to ask me?"

"…" He hesitated for a moment. "Yes."

I blushed and relaxed my body in Sousuke's arms. It felt so nice to be held by him – he was so warm and I felt so safe! I was so happy that he had hugged me. I wished that we could stay like this longer, but I knew that I had to go home. And he had to go back to Samezuka Academy.

"Yamazaki-kun … I should go … " I sighed. "Um … Maybe we can meet after the tournament? We can … um … continue with this?"

He looked at me slightly wide-eyed and then smiled, nodding.

"Sure, that sounds like a plan."

I licked my lips, nervous about what I was going to do next, and then kissed Sousuke on the cheek. I thought that with the way he had been acting, he wouldn't mind me doing that. And indeed, even if my action had caught him off guard, he didn't show any dislike.

"Once again, good luck tomorrow."

"Thanks. You too." He replied, patting me on the back gently before he turned around, disappearing into the station.


	8. Chapter 8

I burst into the restroom and rushed to the first empty stall I found. Kneeling over the toilet bowl, it took me just a few seconds to empty the entire content of my stomach in it. While gasping for air, I wrinkled my nose at the appalling and acid-like taste in my mouth. I moved away, flushing my vomit down the toilet.

Needless to say, I was feeling nervous. And the weird thing was that I wasn't worried so much about my own performance – I knew that no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't pass the prelims. That was the harsh truth. That didn't mean that I wouldn't try my best, of course, I just wasn't deluding myself. I was more worried about my teammates' swimming. From what I had seen upon arriving – before I had felt the urge to throw up that is – a lot of swimmers from different schools were going to compete. They all looked very tough … I hoped that Nagisa, Makoto, Rei and Haru were going to do their best and win in their events.

I sighed and leaned against the wall, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

"Here."

"Oh, thanks." I took the paper towel that had been offered to me and started to clean the corners of my mouth with it before I jumped up startled, turning around. I blushed brightly when I realized that Sousuke was standing directly behind me. With his height and size, he took up all the available space in the tiny stall. "Yamazaki-kun?!"

_This looks disturbingly like this video I once saw …_

I blushed and shook my head, trying to get the very inappropriate images out of my mind.

"Still nervous?" Sousuke asked me.

"Y-yeah …" I covered my mouth with my hand. "S-sorry … my breath must be terrible right now."

"You threw up, of course that your breath would stink." He chuckled, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

"Um …. How did you know that I was in here?" I asked. "Did you … follow me?"

"You ran past me on your way to the restroom. You looked sick, so I was worried about you."

"Oh … I didn't notice you." I had to admit that it was nice of Sousuke to be worried. "I'm just nervous, that's all. Once the tournament is over I'll be fine."

"By the way, you're swimming in the 100 meter breaststroke, right?" He asked. "Nitori from our team is also swimming in the same event."

"And so is Nagisa from our team." I sighed. "Why am I even competing … It's obvious that I'll be last!"

Sousuke sighed and grabbed me by the shoulders, squeezing them rather painfully. I winced and he lessened his grip a bit.

"Can you stop being so negative?" He asked with a tired voice and started to rub my shoulders and upper back with slow, circular motions. He was rather good at that. "Now just take deep breaths. That will calm you down."

Calm me down?! How could anything calm me down while he was massaging my shoulders? How could Sousuke possibly expect this to happen? I felt my cheeks heat up and tried to do as I was told. I took in a few shaky breaths and relaxed against Sousuke's wide palms.

_Think calming thought … think calming thoughts …_

"You seem to be pretty at ease yourself." I commented, closing my eyes. "You're swimming butterfly, right?"

"Actually, no. I'm not competing today." He replied.

"Huh?" I blinked stupidly and looked at him. "But … You're one of the best butterfly swimmers in the country! Why wouldn't you swim in the event?"

He frowned slightly and looked away, letting go of my shoulders. I bit my lower lip. I felt like I had just done something wrong, but I didn’t understand what. When Sousuke and I met last night, I got the impression that he would be competing today. It was natural of me to think so, wasn’t it?

I had actually been looking forward to seeing him swim.

Why would he sit this out? Was it because of Haru? That seemed a bit ridiculous – Haru was swimming freestyle, as he liked to remind us all the time.

_That reminds me … I have to go back to the others. They're probably worried about me._

"I should go back to my team … and I need to change. My event is the first one." I sighed. "At least it will be over soon."

"Just remember to stay calm." Sousuke told me.

"Thanks." I smiled and took one step to the stall door before I realized that he hadn't moved even a little bit. I shifted awkwardly in one place, uncertain of what to do. "Um … "

Sousuke was looking at me with a weird expression on his face. He didn't say anything and I wasn't really sure what to say either – every time he was silent I felt like something bad had happened and on instinct, I immediately thought that I was the one at fault. But just as I was about to ask what was going on, he put his hand on my cheek. As his thumb brushed over my lips gently, his lips curled into a gentle smile. I froze in complete shock.

"Um … " I blushed, trying to pull out a single clever thought from the mess that my mind had turned into. His hand was so warm and was just the right size for me to nuzzle my cheek in it …

Slowly, Sousuke leaned closer, not breaking eye contact with me. My breath hitched in my throat when I realized what was about to happen. This was something that I had imagined us doing practically ever since I first met him. I could see the desire in his eyes and I could practically hear my soul screaming to just give into it. My heart started beating wildly in my chest as I stared back into Sousuke’s deep teal eyes. I leaned forward, parting my lips ever so slightly …

… _Wait … No! Not now!_

I stepped back and covered my mouth with my hand. He was surprised when I moved away from him and then looked down, frowning.

"Sorry … " He muttered. "I thought that … Nevermind …"

"No, it's not that!" I shrieked, scared that he might have got the wrong idea. Sousuke probably thought that I didn’t want this to happen. What a disaster! "It's … you see … I just threw up. Um … there's no way a kiss could be good after that, you know."

"Oh." His face brightened at my explanation and he smiled lightly. "Right."

"Um … can you wait a bit for this?" I asked hopeful. "Like maybe after the tournament and after I've brushed my teeth?"

"Sure." He nodded. "Don't worry about it."

He walked out of the stall and I followed him. We exited the restroom at the same time. It wasn’t hard for me to find my teammates – they were standing nearby and were chatting. Right now Nagisa was gesturing enthusiastically, obviously demonstrating how he would swim in the race. Everyone was watching him show off his swimming technique. Everyone except Haru, I noticed. As if he was psychic, he looked our way the second Sousuke and I stepped out of the restroom. He looked mildly surprised – which in his case meant that he was shocked – and then frowned slightly as he looked at Sousuke. I looked at the taller boy too and noticed that his shoulders had stiffened. His eyes had become steel cold and his jaw was clenched. I frowned and shook my head – apparently those two still had some sort of cold war going on between them. I said goodbye to Sousuke and returned to my friends.

"Ah, Angel-kun, are you feeling alright now?" Makoto asked me, eyeing me with a worried look.

"Yeah, I'm feeling way better now." I nodded. "I'm just nervous, Makoto-kun … This is my first tournament ever."

"Yeah, last year Rei-chan was pretty nervous too. Remember, Rei-chan?" Nagisa asked and nudged Rei playfully.

"I was not! I was just reasonably concerned for my performance." Rei replied, turning away from Nagisa and adjusting his glasses.

I chuckled. Those two bickered like an old married couple! But seeing all of my teammates so calm and cheerful made me feel less nervous too.

"Angel-chan, don't worry about racing me!" Nagisa chirped and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "But know that I will swim my hardest!"

"I know." I smiled. "And just so you know, I'll be cheering for you in my head while I'm swimming." I looked at the rest of the team. "And you should cheer for Nagisa too, guys."

"We will cheer for you too, Angel-kun." Gou smiled at me. "You're part of the team and we should support you too!"

"Thanks." I muttered, looking down. I really didn't think that I deserved any cheering, truth be told. I wasn't a good swimmer like the others.

"Come on, let's go change into our swimsuits!"

Nagisa grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to the changing rooms. There were a few people there already, including Nitori from the Samezuka team. Nagisa ran to him and playfully pushed him.

"Ai-chan!"

Nitori lost his balance and almost fell down, but luckily he managed to straighten up – and to keep his towel still wrapped around his waist, which was rather impressive in my opinion. He flushed embarrassed and then scowled at Nagisa.

"I already asked you not to call me that." He scolded while pouting.

I chuckled and took my swimsuit. We had all bought new ones – it was Rei and Nagisa's idea – for the tournament. I quickly put it on – the idea of undressing in a room with other people still made me feel a bit embarrassed. I hoped that maybe I would get used to it soon.

"Are you ready?" Nagisa asked, jumping in one place from excitement.

"As ready as I can be …" I nodded with a heavy sigh.

"Let's go!"

We went to the pool and I blinked in shock when I saw how many people had come to watch us swim – I never realized how popular a sport it was a round here. I felt my stomach tighten painfully and winced. Nagisa noticed that immediately and grinned.

"Don't worry, Angel-chan!" He pointed at our team who were sitting behind a large yellow banner that Gou and I had made for the tournament. "See! Everyone's cheering for us!"

I smiled and adjusted my goggles, then stepped on the starting block. I took a deep breath and stared at the pool. I tried to remember everything that my teammates had told me about swimming. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the other swimmers getting ready to dive in as well.

_Ok … This is it. There's no going back now._

* * *

"Good job today!" Gou exclaimed as we were walking out of the stadium. The first day of the tournament was over and we couldn't be happier – Haru, Makoto, Rei and Nagisa had all qualified in their events!

I didn’t qualify, however, that didn’t matter to me at the moment.

"Yeah … Congrats, guys …" I muttered and yawned. I heard my jaw cracking and winced. I didn't know what was wrong with me, but ever since the last event ended, I had felt listless and exhausted. I was barely able to move my feet and walk in a straight line, and my throat was kind of sore from all the shouting.

"Angel-chan, it seems like all the stress and excitement finally got to you." Makoto commented, smiling gently. "I was like that after my first race too – I felt absolutely drained."

"Yeah… that’s prob’ly it …" I nodded, barely listening.

"And you swam very hard today too." Gou smiled. "That must have worn you out."

"Mmmhm …" I nodded and yawned. "But it was still pointless."

"Don't say that. You finished fourth in your heat; that was impressive." Makoto said.

"True." Rei nodded. "Statistically speaking, your achievement is amazing, considering that you've been swimming only for a couple of months and have had no significant physical training beforehand!"

"I guess that muscle-building diet is working, huh?" Gou giggled.

"Yeah … " I nodded, swaying a little.

"Why don't you hop on my back? I'll carry you." Makoto offered.

"Noo, Mako-kun, I can't let you do that …" I protested. Weak as I was right now, it would be embarrassing to have someone carry me around. "I can still waaaaalk." I yawned again.

"Don't be silly, come on." He stood in front of me and crouched slightly so that I could climb on his back. I hesitated, but then I decided that it would indeed be better if I didn't have to walk. I put my hands on Makoto’s broad shoulders and with some help managed to settle comfortably against his back, with my feet dangling on his sides and my arms wrapped around his neck.

"Mmm … You're like a giant rock, Mako-kun…" I muttered sleepily as I rested my head on his shoulder. "What did you eat to become so big?"

"Mako-chan is very tall, isn't he?" Nagisa asked and giggled.

"Yeah …" I smiled and closed my eyes, already beginning to doze off. "But Sousuke is bigger, you know …"

_It would probably feel even better if he was the one carrying me._


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a scene in this chapter where Sousuke kind of forces himself on Angel, so warning for that.
> 
> Comments are very welcome, I'm pretty sure that my writing needs a lot of improvement! :)

_We …lost?_

It took my mind a while to process what had happened. I was **so** sure that Haru and the others would win in the relay! Everyone had been training so hard and they had been so excited about it! Their loss felt so surreal … like it was all a dream.

_At least they made it past prelims … so they still have a chance to win … and I guess I'm happy for the Samezuka team too … I bet they were training hard as well._

The cries and cheers coming from the rest of the Samezuka swim club were deafening. Frowning at the noise, I looked at their relay team. Rin was grinning, showing off his pointed teeth, which was to be expected – I knew from Makoto and from Rei that relays held a special place in his heart. I was a bit surprised and concerned that Sousuke didn't appear happy at all. I couldn't be entirely sure about that, however, since I was standing too far away to see his face clearly, but his pose – him looking at the ground with slightly hunched shoulders - revealed that he wasn't pleased about the outcome. True, he wasn't one to show any emotions, even if they were positive, but still … I thought that he'd at least be happy that his team had won the relay.

_Maybe he wanted their victory to be more definite? I mean, they did win with a fraction of a second …_

I tore my eyes away from Sousuke and looked back at my own team. They were understandably gloomy. I frowned, feeling a bit worried – I hoped that they'd be able to recover from this soon. They had to do their best and advance to nationals, after all!

Later, when we were on our way home, I took it upon myself to cheer them up.

"Don't worry, guys, at least you made it through, right?" I said, giving them my brightest smile. "And now you know where you need to improve, so you'll train even harder and go to nationals!"

"That's right!" Nagisa exclaimed – naturally, he was the first one to go back to his old self. He gave me a huge smile and wrapped one arm around Haru's shoulders and the other around Rei's, pulling them closer. "We'll definitely go to nationals this year!"

Haru just smiled lightly while Rei declared with his usual passion that he would train ever harder and study even more. I smiled, relieved for a moment, – it seemed as if things were back to normal – but then looked at Makoto. I had noticed that since yesterday, he wasn't acting like himself. His behaviour was odd today as well – normally he'd be the first to start cheering us up and encouraging us to try harder. But now he was walking in silence, a few steps away from us, looking down at the ground. I frowned as I walked to him.

"Hey …" I called him.

He flinched startled and looked at me.

"Angel-kun …"

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked him, observing his face carefully, searching for anything. I remembered coach Sasabe saying that Makoto had messed up his dive in the relay, so I thought that maybe he wasn't feeling well. He and rest had been training almost nonstop the past couple of weeks.

"I'm fine." He replied, giving me a somewhat forced, in my opinion, smile. "Sorry if I've made you worry."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him. I wondered if he realized that I didn't believe him. Makoto could smile all he wanted, but I had known him for long enough to be able to tell when he had something on his mind. I sighed and turned my attention to the others, just in time to see Rei demonstrate how Nagisa should have swam in the relay.

* * *

 

I put the last plate away and turned the water off. As I was drying my hands, I thought amused how odd it was that I wanted to wash the dirty dishes by hand even though we had a dishwasher. Maybe I had contracted some of Haru's love for water? I chuckled at that thought.

_I bet that if Haru-kun ever went on a date, he'd choose to go to the ocean or to a pool!_

I was alone, since both of my parents had to work overnight. I didn't mind this. Actually, I was even enjoying it. My mother was unusually overprotective – I was already 16 and was perfectly capable of taking care of myself! – so it wasn’t often that I got to spend a night at home by myself. I had no idea why my mother was so worried to leave me alone. After all, I wasn't some reckless kid that was going to start a fire or something. And even if I did, I had enough brains to call the fire department.

_But it is a bit creepy being alone in the house… I keep hearing all these weird noises._

That was true – the house was never fully quiet. I could hear the water running through the pipes, the faint sounds of something running on the roof (stray cats, I hoped) and even creaking coming from upstairs. I was pretty sure that I was imagining the last one though.

I went up to my room. It was kind of stuffy in there, so I decided to open the widow for a while to let some fresh air in.

"Huh?!"

I blinked in confusion. The street outside my home was dimly lit, but even so, I could see that there was someone standing across the street, looking at my house. For a second or two I panicked but then I realized that this was no stranger. His face was hidden in the shadows, but I recognized his sports uniform.

I rushed downstairs and out of the house, not even stopping to put any shoes on. I was afraid that if I took even a second, he'd be gone.

"Yamazaki-kun!"

He had turned around, about to leave when he heard me calling him. He looked back at me and his teal eyes were wide with shock – apparently, he had no idea that he had been discovered. A faint blush crept to his cheeks and he looked away, masking his embarrassment with a frown.

I ran to him and stopped beside him, unsure of what to say.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. I had the feeling that something bad had happened. Sousuke was supposed to be at Samezuka Academy – all the students had curfew, so him being here so late meant that he could get in serious trouble – and on top of all he was acting odd. He was slightly hunched over and kept his gaze low. He didn't even react to my question at all. "Um … Yamazaki-kun?" I called him.

Finally, he lifted his head and I flinched when I saw his expression. Sousuke was looking at me with wide eyes, as if he was seeing me for the first time. He seemed baffled about something, but there was also something else, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I was about to ask if something bad had happened when he quickly grabbed me and pulled me in for a tight hug. Startled, I was barely able to contain my yelp.

"H-hey … what-" I fell silent once I realized that he was in no state to be interrogated. He seemed more upset than I had thought – his hands were shaking and his breathing was slightly rapid. "Um … why don't you come inside?" I asked, trying to be as gentle as possible.

"But … your parents …" He muttered, looking at my house. If the situation wasn’t so disturbing, I would have been amused at Sousuke’s apparent nervousness at the prospect of meeting my parents.

"They both have to work overnight, so they aren't home." I explained with a soothing voice. How lucky was I that I was alone tonight! I was sure that my parents would have been worried if I suddenly brought someone home in the middle of the night.

I led Sousuke to my home, holding him by the hand. It felt almost as if I was with a little kid who was scared of going in a dark room. How odd, I had always seen him as this strong, mature guy … I never imagined he would ever be so upset. But suddenly I realized that he was only a year older than me. He was allowed to feel sad, scared or nervous too. I looked at him and smiled lightly.

"What?" Sousuke inquired, immediately suspicious.

"Nothing." I replied. "Say … how were you planning to go back to Samezuka? The last train left more than half an hour ago."

"I … I was going to walk …" He muttered, looking ashamed.

"Walk all the way in the middle of night?" I exclaimed. "Why don't you sleep here? There's a train at 6 a.m., so you won't miss any classes."

I could tell that Sousuke was about to protest so I quickly tried to pull him into my home. He didn't move at all, naturally. In fact, I was sure that I would be more likely to lift my house than to move him.

"Please, just come inside." I pleading, letting out an exasperated sigh. Sousuke could be as stubborn as a mule, couldn't he?

"… fine."

We both went inside and I led him to my room. Opening the door, I gently patted Sousuke on the back, inviting him inside. I blushed lightly as I looked around my room. The presence of someone else there had suddenly made me realize how messy it actually was: there were two empty mugs on the desk, more crumpled paper on the floor than in the bin and clothes scattered everywhere. I coughed to hide my embarrassment.

"Sorry … If I knew that you were coming I would have tidied up …" I muttered.

_And this is the first time he sees my room … He must think I'm a real slob …_

"It's fine." He looked at me and flashed me a kind smile. "I've heard that great artists are always messy."

I blushed at the compliment and looked away.

"I'm not a great artist …"

"You draw really well." He insisted.

"Thanks … But I'm not a great artist." I repeated. It felt good to hear it from him though.

Sousuke looked around my room with apparent curiosity. I went to sit on the bed, not taking my eyes off him. I wondered what his bedroom was like – it was probably perfectly neat, with a lot of books and swimming trophies. I wished that I could see it.

"Hey … " I spoke up quietly. "I didn't get the chance to tell you before … Congratulations on your win today. In the relay."

I had my eyes on him while I was speaking, so I saw that he clearly flinched at my mention of the relay. So I was right: something **had** happened during the race! I wondered what it could be.

"Thanks." Sousuke muttered, averting his eyes. He was still standing in the middle of my room and looked kind of awkward.

"You can sit down, you know?" I chuckled.

He blinked at me and then slowly went to the bed and settled down beside me. He was still staring at me with that strange look on his face. I wondered what he was thinking about.

"I suppose you wouldn't tell me why you're acting like this, right?" I asked. He nodded and I sighed heavily. "Fine then. But just know that if you ever feel like talking , you can always come to me, ok?" I gave Sousuke a shy smile. "I can tell that you have something on your mind and maybe I won't be able to help you, but at least I'll be here to listen."

What I got in response was unexpected. All I had intended to do was just make it clear that I wanted to be there for Sousuke. I wanted him to know that I was able to give him my support. I was expecting a "thank you" in return, maybe even a little smile … But then, without saying a word, he just put his hands on the sides of my face and pulled me closer, crashing his lips onto mine with great force.

As much as I had wanted to kiss him, this was not how I had imagined it would go. Sousuke was forceful and he was actually hurting me a little, especially the harsh way he was biting my lower lip. I struggled, trying to push him away, but that seemed to make things worse. He pinned me down on the bed and continued kissing me in the same hungry manner, biting and sucking on my lips. I was suddenly reminded of being a little kid, not much older than five, and I was trying to push my neighbour’s overly-friendly dog off me.

"W-wait …" I managed to gasp. "Ya-yamazaki-kun!"

Suddenly the kisses stopped. I stared at Sousuke wide-eyed. He was still on top of me, propped up on his elbows so that I wouldn’t be crushed under his weight, and his face was so close to mine that our noses were almost touching. A thin, silvery line was connecting our lips. His eyes were wide with shock – much like mine – and he was shaking slightly.

"I … I don't …" He stuttered.

"It’s fine, really …" I quickly said. I could somewhat understand his actions. He was upset, after all, and he needed to feel in control again. Or maybe I was just fishing for excuses for his actions because I didn’t want to blame him for what had just happened? Either way, it wasn't important right now.

Sousuke moved away from me. He brought a shaking hand to his face and wiped his mouth. I thought that he looked a bit paler, but I couldn't be sure if that wasn’t because of the room’s lighting.

"Look, it's really fine." I said, sitting up. My heart was still racing and my lips hurt.

"You’re bleeding." He said and carefully brushed his thumb over my lower lip. Then he showed me the little crimson droplets on his skin. "See?"

I ran a tongue over my lips and indeed, I could taste the blood on them. How hard had Sousuke bitten me? I hadn't felt that much pain, to be honest. But maybe that was just because everything had happened so fast that I didn’t have time to react adequately.

"I'm sorry …" Sousuke muttered.

"It's fine." I repeated. "Just … be gentler next time."

"Next time … You want there to be a next time?"

"W-well …. Yeah …" I nodded, blushing. I shyly moved closer to him and took his hand. "Besides, I promised you, remember?"

"I'll hurt you."

I blinked at the curt statement and then sighed, shaking my head.

"I don't think you will. Yamazaki-kun, you're a nice guy, I can see that." I gave his hand a squeeze and kissed him on the cheek.

"I already hurt you." He reminded, frowning, and looked down.

"That was an accident." I replied softly. "I know that you didn't really mean to hurt me."

He looked at me, at first surprised, then his lips twitched into a shy smile. I smiled as well when I noticed that his stiff shoulders seemed to relax a bit. He was starting to cheer up, apparently.

_Maybe he wouldn't mind if I …_

I licked my lips again and moved closer to Sousuke, kissing him gently. I felt him flinching at the touch, but then he wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me closer. I smiled lightly and tilted my head to the side, tugging on his lower lip.

_Is this his first time kissing someone?_

I found it hard to believe that Sousuke had kissed anyone before me. Even now, when he had calmed down a bit, his kissing was still insecure and a bit sloppy. I didn't mind, though. In fact, I found it really cute.

"…"

We were interrupted by a phone buzzing. For a second I thought that it was Sousuke's phone – I was sure that Rin would notice that Sousuke was missing. They were sharing a dorm room, after all. However, it turned out to be my own phone. I took it and looked at the screen. My eyes widened and I felt heavy iron filling my stomach when I saw that it was Haru. How strange – Haru **never** used his phone! And yet he was calling me now, when Sousuke was in my room!

_He **really** must be psychic!_

"Ah … hello?" I said, answering the call. I glanced at Sousuke. He looked slightly irritated, but I figured that it was probably because our kiss had been interrupted. I tried my best not to let him guess who was calling me – I was sure that being reminded of Haru would spoil his mood again and I didn’t want this to happen.

"Angel, I saw you talking with Makoto today."

"Ah … y-yeah, I did." I confirmed. "Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to …" He suddenly paused and then asked with a sharper tone. "Are you alone?"

"E-eh?!" For a second, I thought that my heart had stopped beating. Was Haru hiding somewhere in my room?! I glanced at Sousuke. He was looking away, but I could tell that he was still listening carefully to my conversation. "Eh … yeah. My parents are out." I muttered, almost certain that I hadn’t convinced him with my weak response. "What did you want to ask me about Makoto-kun?"

"I was wondering if he told you something."

"Something?" I frowned, forgetting about my discomfort for a moment. "No…. Something **is** bothering him, but he didn't tell me anything. Sorry."

"Ok." And without saying anything else, Haru hung up.

I put my phone down and ran my fingers through my hair, sighing. It seemed like Haru had just called me to ask about Makoto. What a relief … for a moment there I thought that he was actually aware that Sousuke was here. I wasn't sure why, but I had the feeling that I shouldn't tell my teammates about my closeness with Sousuke yet. I was nervous about how they – mainly Haru – would react.

"Something wrong?"

I looked at Sousuke and shook my head.

"I'm … not sure." I replied a bit sadly.

"Who were you talking to?"

"Er … " I couldn't lie to him. "It was Haru-kun …"

He stared at me in silence and then opened his mouth, as if to ask me something. But he seemed to change his mind, because he just frowned and looked away. I sighed and took his hand.

"I've told you before too: Haru is my friend." I said quietly.

"Yeah, I know." He replied grimly. "You’re all such great friends …"

"Why do you hate him so much?" I asked curious, but Sousuke remained silent. I sighed again. "Um … you must be tired… How about we go to sleep?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When someone speaks in English, their speech will be in bold and italics.

"Eeeh? You've started helping Goro-chan?" Nagisa exclaimed. He looked at Makoto with a somewhat accusing expression and then turned to Haru. "Haru-chan, did you know about that?"

"I hadn't heard." Haru replied with a passive voice, looking away from the others.

Makoto smiled gently as he started to explain himself. I was barely listening to him while putting my swimsuit on. He seemed happy, much happier than he had been in some time now, so I found no need to question a decision that made my friend so content and didn’t interfere with his training. Besides, I had other things on my mind right now.

"We should all go and help Goro-chan!" Nagisa chirped, jumping up and down in one place.

"But Nagisa, you all have other things to focus on, don't you?"

"Ah … right." His smiled faded a bit and he tapped his chin. "Before we worry about others, we should worry about ourselves, huh? I need to be able to manage both swimming and studying at the same time. I promised my parents that I'd do that." He frowned at that – obviously he wouldn't have enough free time to go help out at the swim club.

"And **I** need to improve my swimming." Rei added, adjusting his glasses.

"I could help out." I said shrugging. "I didn't qualify, so I could spare some of my time. Besides, I owe it to coach Sasabe – he allowed me to go to his swim club to practice when it was still too cold to use our pool. I haven't forgotten that." I smiled. "Of course, I won't do well if I try coaching, but I'm sure that there are other things I could do. I could help clean the place after practice."

Makoto looked hesitant for a second. He glanced at Nagisa and Rei, who had started bickering about something, then at Haru who stared back at him with an expressionless face. They often did that – whenever Makoto found himself in some sort of a conundrum, he'd always look at Haru. They wouldn't exchange a single word, but somehow Makoto always seemed to have made up his mind after that. It was like some sort of magic.

A few seconds later, Makoto looked away from Haru. He smiled and gave me a nod.

"Alright. I'll take you with me next time." He said.

"Thanks, Makoto-kun." I smiled as well.

_This is just the kind of distraction I need. I don't want to think about anything right now …_

* * *

"Ah, Angel-kun, can you please go and check the locker rooms?" Coach Sasabe asked me after the group that he was coaching had left. "Last time one of the kids had forgotten his house key there."

"Oh, I already checked. No things left behind this time. I just need to clean it up after all the kids have left." I replied with a smile.

"Good." He smiled and returned to the pool area.

It had been a few days since I started helping out at the swim club. It was actually kind of fun, even though most of my tasks were cleaning up after the groups.

Speaking of the kids, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many had signed up for swimming lessons. Makoto wasn't the only one who was coaching, there were at least three other people beside him – and from what I had heard, coach Sasabe was looking to hire another one.

Now that practice was over, almost all of the kids had left. Only one boy remained in the entrance hall. Makoto was talking to him – the boy was in the group that he was coaching. He was a little fellow, shorter than the other children, with messy pink hair. I had watched my friend coach a few times, when I didn't have so much work, and I had noticed that this kid always looked sad. I thought that maybe he was just shy and needed some time to get used to his group and coach. Apparently, Makoto had noticed his behaviour too, because he was speaking with him with that same gentle expression he always had on when he was encouraging me about my swimming.

I was quite impressed with Makoto. He was not only a good coach, but he was also very nice with the kids in his group. They all loved him! Even now, as he was talking to the boy, he was kneeling down so that they could be on the same eye level. Not many people did that.

_He'd actually make a great coach. I wonder if he's thought about that._

I walked to them and gave them a warm smile.

"Hello. How was swimming today?"

"It was fine. Everyone did very well, including Hayato-kun." He gave the boy a huge smile, but that only made Hayato look even sadder. He looked down at his feet.

I felt kind of bad for the little boy. He seemed really shy and I was almost certain that he didn't want to be here. Maybe his parents had forced him to take swimming classes? I remembered that I had been pretty excited to attend swimming lessons when I was a little kid, mainly because I got to meet a lot of new people there.

Suddenly Hayato's face lit up and he ran to the front door, greeting the tall boy that had just entered with a cheerful cry.

"Big brother!"

I looked at the newly-arrived with interest. He looked a lot like his younger sibling – except that he was much taller, of course! – but he seemed to be the exact opposite of the quiet and shy Hayato. He appeared to be quite out-going and charismatic. I thought that he was the sort of person who could get along with anyone. He kind of reminded me of my best friend back in my home town.

"Eh?" I turned around, only to see that Makoto had straightened up and was looking at the other wide-eyed. "Kisumi?"

For a second, I thought that he had said "kiss me" and blinked in shock. I had no idea why, but I immediately wondered how Haru would have reacted if he had heard him say that to this guy.

"Shigino Kisumi?"

The guy, Kisumi apparently, looked at Makoto with a raised eyebrow. He suddenly grinned, his face lighting up.

"Makoto? Is that you?" He ran to him. "Oh man, I haven't seen you since middle school!"

_Ohhh … So they know each other!_

"Yeah." Makoto agreed. Kisumi looked at me, smiling brightly and I blushed a bit. He seemed almost too dazzling to be real. "Oh, this is Angel. He is in my school's swim club." Makoto introduced me.

"Nice to meet you!"

"Same here." I replied. "Ah, sorry, but I need to go and clean the locker room."

"Alright. See you later." Makoto waved at me.

The locker room was messy – like it always was at the end of the day. I didn't mind doing some physical work right now, though. It helped me forget my own worries.

_I wonder if I should talk to someone about it? Makoto would surely understand … But then again, this may turn out to be nothing. I shouldn't make my friends worry until I'm certain that there **is** actually something to worry about._

It took me about half an hour to finish my task. When I was done, I looked up and saw that Makoto was standing in the doorway. He was waiting for me to finish so that we could walk home together, like we had done in the past several days.

"Do you need any help?" He asked.

"Nah, I'm finished here." I smiled. "I'll just go change my clothes and we can go."

As we were walking down the street, I turned to look at Makoto. He was quiet and was walking with his head hung low. Usually he was chattering about the kids in his group, telling me how much they were improving with a huge smile on his face.

"Hey, Makoto-kun … Did something happen?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He looked at me slightly surprised.

"Well … you look like there's something on your mind." I pointed out.

"I was just thinking about Hayato-kun. He said that he hated swimming."

"Oh …" I blinked. "Well … If he doesn't like swimming he shouldn't be forced to swim, right? It's simple." I couldn't really understand why Makoto was thinking so much about this.

Did he think that Hayato didn't like swimming because of the way he coached? It certainly seemed like something that Makoto would do. I remembered how guilty he felt when I got sunburnt the week before the tournament, even though it had been my decision to practice all day.

"Maybe you should talk to Hayato's older brother? You seem to know him very well." I suggested.

"Ah, yes, I do. Kisumi, Haru and I went to the same middle school." He nodded. "I will talk to him about it. Maybe he will know why Hayato-kun hates swimming."

"Alright." I smiled. "By the way, you're doing a really good job with coaching, Makoto-kun. You are really good with kids too!"

"Eh? You think so?" He blushed. "W-well … I guess I have some experience from babysitting Ran and Ren …"

"It's not just that, though." I said. "You seem to have a knack for it. And I can tell that you like it – you've been happier than ever since you started coaching these kids!"

"Ehhh?! I have?"

"Yeah!" I nodded. "You know, you were pretty glum since the tournament. You were so quiet … Even Haru was worried about you! He called me to ask if I knew what was wrong with you."

"What? He did?" He asked, gaping at me.

"Yeah! And he called at the most awkward time, right when Sousuke and I were- Ow …" I clasped a hand over my mouth and blushed brightly, embarrassed by the rather stupid slip-up that I had made.

Makoto looked at me wide-eyed. He surely must have heard me saying Sousuke's name. Truth be told, I didn't have a problem with **him** knowing … but I wasn’t certain if I should have said anything. Sousuke and I hadn’t talked about what was going on between us yet and to top it all, I had no idea what my friends thought about Sousuke. He wasn’t the friendliest person in the world and from what I knew, he had made no attempt to become closer with Makoto and the others.

_Why do things have to be so complicated with my crush?_

"So you and Yamazaki-kun are pretty close, huh?" Makoto asked, giving me a gentle smile. He obviously didn't find anything suspicious, or more like he didn't show that he had.

"I g-guess you could say that …" I muttered, blushing as I recalled that we had basically spent a whole night making out. "He's a nice guy, really." I added defensively.

"I'm sure he is." Makoto smiled. "I don't think we've ever talked, to be honest. But he's a good swimmer."

"Yes, he is!" I nodded, smiling widely. "He's one of the fastest swimmers I've ever seen and his form is so professional! I'm pretty sure that he could swim in the Olympics after he graduates!"

Makoto chuckled and I realized a little too late that I had let my enthusiasm get the better of me. I blushed even more and muttered something that even I couldn't understand, looking down at my feet in embarrassment.

"So you like him that much, huh?" He asked, smiling happily.

"Y-yeah …" I nodded. "Um … could you please not tell the others? I'm still kinda figuring things out with Sousuke …"

It wasn’t a lie. We had kissed, true, but even now I still wasn't sure what kind of a relationship we had. After he had spent the night at my place, Sousuke had left before I woke up, leaving me a note in which he thanked me and then explained that he had to go back to Samezuka and that he didn't want to wake me up. I hadn't heard from him since then and I had to admit that I missed him more than I thought I would.

_I want to see him so badly right now. Just a little glimpse would be enough … I really need him to cheer me up._

"I understand." Makoto smiled. "I promise I'll keep quiet about this."

"Thanks." I sighed in relief. I knew that I could trust Makoto to keep my secret.

* * *

When I arrived home and stepped inside my house, I immediately heard my parents whispering in the kitchen. I sighed. It had been like this for the past few days. I would often stumble upon my parents whispering to each other. They were hiding something from me, that was for sure! I didn't know what they were discussing so much, but I had noticed that my mother was moodier than usual, which was weird because she was normally a very cheerful person. However, every time I asked them if something was wrong, both my parents would give me a fake smile and insist that everything was alright. I had a faint suspicion what they kept talking about though and it made me feel a sharp pain in the pit of my stomach.

Suddenly the kitchen door opened and my mother walked out. She halted when she saw me, exclaiming in surprise.

**_"Oh, sweetie, you're home already?"_** She asked.

**_"I always come home around this time."_** I replied. I was too tired to question her again, so I just sighed and headed to my room.

**_"Dinner will be ready soon."_** She called out after me.

I waved my hand to let her know that I had heard her and went into my room. I plopped on my bed, hugging my pillow, and stared at the poster above my bed. It was actually just a large picture of a waterfall that Haru had given me. He had told me that if I watch it for long enough, I'd get to know the water better – whatever that meant.

_To be honest, I think if Haru wasn't such a good swimmer he probably would have been sent to a psychiatrist by now because of his obsession with water…_

I sighed and rolled over. I had the terrible, nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen. My stomach was aching – I always got a stomach-ache during the worst times of my life. I got one before my pet rabbit died; I got one before dad got into a car crash (he wasn't hurt seriously, thankfully) and I've been having one for the past week. And I was pretty sure that whatever was going to happen had something to do with my parents and their unusual behaviour.

_Why can't they just tell me what's going on? Do they think I'm not grown-up enough to tell me important things? Besides, if I'm right about what they keep talking about, they should tell me! If they want us to go back to Wales, I deserve to know that and be a part of the discussion._


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English speech is in bold and italics. 
> 
> Comments would be appreciated!

"Oh!"

_Crap …_

I bent down, picking up the soda can that I had just accidentally dropped. Luckily, it wasn't opened, so there was no spill, but now I feared that would happen if I did open it… I didn't want to get all soaked and sticky.

Makoto and I were once again at Iwatobi Swim Club Returns. The groups hadn't arrived yet, so we were taking a little break by the vending machines. I had started coming here more often that Makoto – I had grown to hate being at home, so I always stayed as late as coach Sasabe and almost didn't see my parents. We were mainly communicating through text messages and notes left on the fridge. Even when I was home, I mostly stayed in my room with earphones on – by now I couldn't stand hearing them whisper like that.

"Angel-kun, are you feeling alright?" Makoto asked me.

"Hm?" I looked into Makoto's worried eyes. "What makes you think that I'm not?"

I **still** had no idea what was troubling my parents! I was almost certain that my mother wanted us to go back to Wales, but so far they hadn't told me anything. They were still keeping maddeningly quiet about what was troubling them, which annoyed me to no end. After all, if they were really discussing leaving Japan, I deserved to give my two cents about it too, right?

What annoyed me even more was that my parents didn't seem to realize that keeping quiet about it was taking its toll on me. My friends could see how troubled I was ... so why were my own parents so blind?

"… You've been spacing out a lot recently and you keep dropping your stuff.” Makoto pointed out. “You're not so clumsy normally. I'm worried about you."

"A-ah … thanks, Makoto, really …" I replied quickly. "But you shouldn't worry about me. I'll be fine. Besides, you need to focus on advancing to nationals, right?"

"I think that my friends are far more important." Makoto insisted, frowning slightly as he looked at me. "You seemed to have lost weight recently too. That's not a good sign."

"Really?" I blinked and looked down at myself. I couldn't tell for sure if I had actually lost weight or not, but I took Makoto's word for it. "Well … I actually haven't had any appetite lately, so I don't eat as much as I need to."

"That's not good." He now looked even more worried. "So there **is** something troubling you?"

"Um …" I hesitated for a few seconds, but ultimately decided to tell him what was going on. Maybe he could help me? Out of all my friends, I thought that Makoto was the best person to talk to about my problems. Haru would probably say something vague about water, Nagisa would try to help me but eventually would get so distracted that he would switch to another topic, and Rei would give me some theoretical solution which would have no practical use at all. "Actually …. There is something that's been on my mind for a while …" I muttered. "I'm not entirely sure about it, but I think that my parents are planning to go back to Wales."

"What? Did they tell you that?" He asked, staring at me wide-eyed.

"No …" I shook my head. "But I sometimes hear some of the things they talk about. Just last week my mother was complaining that my dad was working too much. Her exact words were: "You didn't use to work until so late before." So … I think that she fears that she and my dad are starting to grow distant because of my dad's work." I sighed.

"Oh, I see." He muttered. "So, does this mean that you will go back with your parents?"

"… I think so. I mean, they wouldn't let me stay here on my own, would they?" I replied, sighing heavily. "I really don't want to leave, I love it here and I love being in the swim club!"

_And if I leave, I won't get to see you guys ever again … and Sousuke too …_

"We'd all be really sad if you left." Makoto frowned. "Have you told your parents that you want to stay here?"

"I haven't told them anything!" I replied, my voice becoming louder than before. "They don't even want to talk to me about it and it's seriously pissing me off! I should be able to discuss this with them, because I'm a part of the family too! Aren’t I right?" I pouted.

Makoto looked a bit taken aback by my outburst, but then he quickly recovered.

"I think that it's best if you stay calm. Just tell your parents how you feel." He said. "Remember when Nagisa had a problem with his parents? It was solved by him talking to them."

"Yeah…" I nodded. "But Nagisa's problem was way different than mine…" I sighed. "But talking to them is the only plan I've got so far … maybe it will work?"

"Maybe." Makoto smiled. Then he turned his head away with a distant look in his eyes. I looked at him with curiosity. He couldn't be **that** troubled over my problem, right? So maybe he had something on his mind as well?

"Hm … it seems to me like you've got a problem too." I commented.

He looked back at me and then smiled gently as he shook his head.

"No, I don't." He replied. "I just … coach Sasabe told me today that he had found a new part-timer, so next week will be my last here. I just can't believe how quickly it was over." He may have realized how sad he sounded, because he quickly gave me a soft smile. "But that alright! Now I can focus on my swimming, right?"

"Yeah …" I agreed quietly, thinking to myself that Makoto didn't seem to care so much about his own swimming right at that moment.

* * *

"Ugh …" I groaned as I rolled on my stomach, burying my nose in my pillow.

I was so nervous that I wished I could just disappear! But I couldn't – I was here and I couldn't run away from my own problems anymore. I had decided that today was the day I'd talk to my parents. This was why I hadn't gone with Makoto to the swim club. I actually felt kind of guilty for not being there for him today – it was Makoto's last day as a coach and he looked pretty sad that he wouldn't be going there again. He really must have loved coaching those kids, I gathered.

I stood up from the bed and went to the mirror. I had gone over what I'd say to my parents a million times in my mind and yet I felt like my arguments weren't compelling enough. I tossed my bangs away from my eyes and stared at my reflection, trying to encourage myself to leave the comfort of my bedroom. My parents were in the living room right now, but somehow I just couldn't go there and spill my heart out to them. The thing was that I wasn't really afraid of confronting them about their irritating behaviour. I was actually afraid that they would confirm my suspicions. I was afraid that they'd tell me that we had to leave Japan for good.

"Huh?"

Just as I was ready to head to the door, my phone buzzed, announcing that I had received a text message. I blinked, a bit shocked at the odd timing, and then went to see who it had texted me. To my huge surprise, it turned out to be Sousuke.

_[Can you come to Samezuka today? I need to talk to you.]_

I bit my lower lip. If I had received such a message from him on any other day, I would have been darting to the train station while typing my reply, but today … I couldn't do it today. I needed to talk to my parents and sort this out before it became an even bigger problem. With a tight feeling in my stomach, I sent him a text.

_[I'm sorry, I can't do it today. :( Maybe some other time?]_

I anxiously awaited his reply. It took Sousuke a painfully long time to reply – each second that passed without my cell phone buzzing was like a little needle in my heart. Had I offended him so badly? Maybe Sousuke wanted to tell me something urgent? What if … what if he had finally decided to tell me what was bothering him and I had just blown away all chances of him opening up to me?

"Ugh!" I exclaimed and sat on the floor, curling up in a ball.

Why did everything have to have such bad timing! Why did my parents have to act like little children? If they had just been honest with me from the beginning, now I could be on the train to Samezuka Academy. Instead, I was lying on my floor in emotional turmoil.

_Note to self – I will never hide anything from my own children. Ever!_

Finally I heard that I had received a text message and immediately jumped up. I grabbed my phone, then dropped it accidentally – my hands were shaking so much! I took it from the floor and quickly opened the new text I had received.

To my shock, Sousuke didn't seem to be mad or upset. In fact, he was even apologizing for bothering me while I was busy. As I stared at my phone, reading the message over and over and trying to find some hidden meaning that showed that Sousuke was actually angry with me, I suddenly realized that I had never seen him act even slightly selfish. He never demanded anything, he always looked after other people – well, mostly Rin and me, actually – and he **never** complained.

_He's such a nice and selfless guy … Oh my god, this is probably one of the few things he's ever asked anyone to do for him! And I said no …_

I stood up, clenching my phone tightly. No … I **was** going to see him today! I would go and talk to my parents. If I was honest with them, our conversation wouldn't be long and I'd still have time to go and talk to Sousuke. I nodded. Yes, this was going to happen!

I quickly went downstairs and saw that my mother was just coming out of the kitchen. She gave me a soft smile – when she and my dad weren't whispering to each other, they treated me nicer than ever which of course made me even more suspicious. I took a deep breath and went to her.

**_"Mum, I think that we should talk."_** I knew that my new-found courage wouldn't last long, so I decided to say what I wanted to right there. **_"Okay, here we go … I am sixteen years old! I am a part of this family and I am old enough to be able to make rational decisions. I have noticed that you and dad are discussing something and I think that it's bad parenting on your part that you've hidden it from me for so long. You may have thought that I hadn't noticed anything, but in fact, I did notice and the thought that my own parents don't trust me has been bothering me for some time now. So please, just tell me what's going on!"_**

My mother was silent after my speech, looking a bit shocked. Then she smiled again and nodded.

**_"You're right, sweetie. We shouldn't have hidden anything from you."_** She stroked my cheek affectionately. **_"Come, let's go in the living room. Your father and I will tell you everything, I promise."_**


	12. Chapter 12

The day of the regionals was finally here. Even though I hadn't qualified, I was still allowed to go with the rest of the club and give them my support. It was very exciting, but also quite stressful – even though I wasn't competing, I could still feel the pressure of my team needing to perform well. I could only imagine what was going on in my teammates’ hearts.

We arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon and gaped at the huge building. It was at least 40 floors high! I felt like a little bug as I looked all the way to the top floor. The building was so tall that I began to feel dizzy.

_Wow …_

We went inside, looking around the spacious and luxurious lobby of the hotel. As we were walking, Ama-chan started saying something about how nothing ever came free. I didn't listen to her that much - I had by now started to tune her out whenever she quoted some famous person. It was better that way.

"Gou-san!"

We turned around and saw that the Samezuka swimming team had arrived. Apparently, they were going to stay in the same hotel as us. What a coincidence!

Rin approached us and greeted us with a friendly smirk, showing off his pointy teeth. Meanwhile I looked at Sousuke and smiled at him. He smiled back, making me blush in embarrassment. I hadn't seen him in quite a while and I really missed him. I was glad that we got to share the same hotel, because I hoped that we could meet up later.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to go and see him the other day – the talk with my parents had taken way too long, since we had a lot of things to discuss, and afterwards I was left feeling too emotionally exhausted to be able to leave my home. True, Sousuke and I had spent the last week or so talking on the phone almost every day, but it didn’t seem enough to me. Sousuke kept calling me and we always ended up at least an hour on the phone, but the weird thing was that we mostly talked about trivial, pointless things: what we had for lunch, some funny or curious thing that might have happened at school … we also often talked about me, for some reason. Sousuke loved asking about my interests and childhood.

However, I had the feeling that all these little talks were just a build-up for something more. I was almost certain that Sousuke wanted to tell me some important news, because he often hesitated before hanging up, as if he wanted add more but he didn't have the courage to do so. That was really weird, because he seemed like a blunt guy who always said what was on his mind.

"Oh, Sousuke-kun, Angel-kun and I saw you at the train station the other day!" Gou told Sousuke, smiling at him cheerfully.

She definitely hadn’t meant for to be anything more than a friendly comment, but Sousuke was beyond startled. He looked at Gou and then back at me, widening his eyes slightly in panic. How odd … I had forgotten about that until Gou mentioned it. Back then I hadn't thought that it was such a big deal, but apparently, it was to Sousuke.

"I didn’t know about that. What were you doing there?" Rin asked, frowning at his friend.

"Nothing really…" He replied, looking away and frowning slightly. At the sight of his troubled eyes, I felt a tight pain in my stomach.

_Oh no …_

Shortly after that Rin, Sousuke and the rest of their team left for their rooms. Makoto looked at us and smiled.

"I think we should all go to our rooms too. We need some rest. Let's meet here in an hour, and then we'll go and get something to eat." He suggested.

We all nodded and headed to the elevator. Nagisa, Rei and I were going to share a room while Makoto and Haru were going to sleep in another. Our rooms were right next to each other.

When we entered our room, Nagisa exclaimed happily. Dropping his bag to the floor, he went to the bed in the middle and plopped on it.

"Whoa, it's so soft!" He giggled.

Rei sighed and adjusted his glasses, having grown tired of our friend's antics. I couldn't help but laugh at Nagisa's childish behaviour. Sitting down on one of the other beds, I looked around the room.

"You know, this reminds me of when I was younger." I said. "Usually my aunt and uncle took me on vacation, because they have two daughters about my age. My parents thought that it would be best if I went with other kids, so that I would have someone to play with. So my aunt and uncle would sleep in one room – like Makoto and Haru – and me and my cousins would sleep in another room." I chuckled. "It was actually kind of fun, because we could stay up late as much as we wanted to."

"I bet it was fun!" Nagisa grinned.

"Yeah, it was." I nodded. "Well, except for that time when we were drawing and one of my cousins drew a unicorn which really looked like a huge balloon with a stick in it, so I drew a better-looking one and they were so jealous that they painted my fingernails and my toenails pink while I was sleeping." I sighed, blushing lightly. "I remembered feeling very embarrassed about that the next morning."

"Oh, yeah, I know what you mean." Nagisa said, pouting slightly. "My older sisters did this to me all the time!"

"That's tough." I frowned in sympathy.

And hour later we met up with Makoto, Haru and Gou in the lobby and headed out to get something to eat – for some reason Ama-chan preferred to dine in the hotel's restaurant. While we were walking around the city, taking in our new surroundings, Makoto and I started chatting about his younger siblings. I had met Ran and Ren once, when I had visited Makoto at his home. I had found the twins adorable, but a bit loud and tiring. They seemed to love their older brother a lot.

"Ah! Gou-kun!"

I looked at the tall boy that had greeted us. He was a couple of years older than us and he had bright red hair, combed backwards. He seemed familiar and I wondered if I had met him before.

"Oh, captain Mikoshiba!"

Oh, right! He was Samezuka's swim team's old captain and Momotarou's older brother! I remembered seeing him at the prefecturals, but we didn’t talk at all then. Gou had told me about him – apparently he was a very good swimmer, and was also infatuated with her.

However, no one seemed to know who the middle-aged man with him was. Luckily, captain Mikoshiba introduced him. It turned out that he was a scouting agent for the university that the red-headed guy attended. What's more, he had heard of Haru and seemed very eager to see him swim tomorrow.

I frowned as I looked at my friend. It was obvious that the scouting agent’s attention was getting on Haru’s nerves. What troubled me was that Haru wasn’t one to let his feelings show, yet now he was clenching his fists.

_Oh, this won't end well…_

* * *

"Look, it's Haru's heat already!" Nagisa exclaimed, pointing. "Gooooo, Haru-chan!" He yelled and waved his fist in the air.

I bit my lower lip and glanced at Makoto. He looked back and me and nodded lightly. Ever though we had never discussed it out loud, I knew that he shared my concerns – we had both never seen Haru so emotionless when it came to swimming.

_Does he even want to swim today at all?_

I shook my head, frowning. Of course that Haru wanted to swim! Why else would he have agreed to participate in the race? The stress was probably getting to him. He always said that he didn’t care about his time, but it was his last year of high school after all and this race was one of his last chances to impress the scouts. That was probably what it was – Haru just wanted to get a good offer and get in a university with a strong swimming team.

_Except … I've never heard him say anything like that …_

Curious, I leaned over the edge slightly, looking at Haru. He was the last swimmer standing – everyone else was already bending down, ready to dive in at the signal. This had never happened before. I bit my lower lip and unconsciously grabbed Makoto's hand, squeezing it tightly. I was so worried about Haru that I didn't even hear Makoto's startled gasp.

_Something's wrong …_

When the race started, I allowed myself to sigh in relief. Haru seemed to be swimming like normal – his start was on time and he quickly pulled ahead of the rest. I pressed both hands on my chest, closing my eyes briefly. Maybe I had been too concerned and had taken Haru's stress for something worse?

"Eh?"

Makoto's surprised exclamation made me open my eyes.

"What's going on?" I asked quickly.

"Haru-chan's falling behind!?" Nagisa gasped.

"No … he's slowing down on purpose."

I gasped and leaned forward, grabbing the bars of the railing in front of me so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Haru was indeed slowing down, as if he was planning on stopping right in the middle of the race. What was he thinking?

"Oh no, oh no, oh no …." I kept muttering. My eyes started filling with tears, but I wiped them away swiftly. I could already guess what would happen next.

Time seemed to be going painfully slow for us. It took what felt like an eternity for Haru to slow down enough so that his feet would touch the pool floor. He took off his goggles and swimming cap, while staring down at the water.

"Haru-chan …" Nagisa muttered quietly.

"W-what happens now?" I asked. "Does this mean that he … Did he just lost?"

Makoto nodded. I looked back at Haru. He was walking to the edge of the pool – not swimming, **walking**. I knew from experience how hard it was to walk in a pool. I thought that to him it must be torture right now. He climbed up and slowly headed to the changing rooms.

"Let's go to him." Nagisa said, standing up. "Haru-chan needs us."

"But I don't get." Rei spoke as we were hurrying along the corridor. "Why would Haruka-senpai stop like that? Was he not feeling well?"

"I think … I think that it was too much for him." I said quietly.

"What was?"

"You heard the principal last week and the scouting agent that captain Mikoshiba introduced us to." I replied. "Everyone expects so much of Haru – he has to get scouted, he has to advance to nationals, he has to set a record …" I sighed. "He needed to please so much people … I guess he felt trapped."

"What you're saying does make sense." Rei said thoughtfully and adjusted his glasses. "Haruka-senpai always says that he doesn't care about winning or setting records …"

"Yeah, he says that he wants to be free." Nagisa added, looking worried. "But what happens now? Will he get scouted at all?"

"I don't know. But look, guys, I think that once we find Haru-kun, we shouldn't judge him or scold him for what he just did. I think he wanted to throw the race and we should respect his decisions, right?" I asked. "Let's just show him our support, ok?"

_I just pray that he still wants to swim in the relay._

The others nodded. We soon arrived at the changing room. The scene that greeted us once we looked inside was definitely not a pleasant one: Haru and Rin were standing face to face, with Haru's back slammed against the lockers. They both looked furious – this was the first time that I had seen Haru show anger. It was scary.

And then he started yelling. I stood there wide-eyed, listening to Haru's words. W-what was he saying? Was he going to give up swimming? Was going pro **not** his dream? I didn't know what was going on right now and judging by Nagisa's and Rei's expressions, I wasn't the only one. Even Makoto seemed puzzled and he was the one who knew Haru the best!

Finally Haru tore himself away from Rin and walked towards the door. That was when he saw us. He looked surprised and even a little ashamed – I guessed he hadn't realized that we had been here the whole time.

"Don't worry." He told us with a much calmer voice. "I will still swim in the relay with you."

None of us could say anything. Was Haru going to pretend like nothing had happened at all? What was more, were we going to accept that?

Suddenly I felt very uncomfortable. I was among my friends, yet all I wanted to do was desperately get out of here as soon as possible. Maybe seeing Haru lash out like that had shaken me – I always thought that he'd be the one to keep his cool when something bad happened. Seeing him like that was disturbing.

"A-ah … I'll go and tell Gou-chan what happened, ok? She must be worried too." I suggested. Since nobody replied, I just shrugged and started walking away.

I wasn't in that much of a hurry to tell Gou. Besides, what was there to tell her? "Oh, yeah, Haru kinda yelled at your brother but now he seems to be alright but we all feel like something is wrong and we can't do anything about it." I sighed.

It was surprising how at this swimming tournament swimming had turned out to be the last thing on my mind.

"Hm?" I looked up, blinking in surprise. I was leaning on a wall near the showers and I could hear the water running. One of the swimmers was taking a shower, probably. After all, there were teams that came here to win and none of our drama concerned them, I thought bitterly.

How I wished I could be a part of one of **those** teams! Or better yet, how I wished that there was no drama in my own team!

I was about to walk away when I heard a faint sob and froze in one place. Was I wrong or had that sounded strangely familiar? I wasn't really sure, but somehow I couldn't move away.

_No … I don't think I can handle anything more today …_

And yet I couldn't leave. Something told me that I should go inside. I had the feeling that if I left, I'd regret it. Sighing, I opened the door quietly and went in. The place was huge, humid and filled with steam. It was very hot in here, so I was grateful that I had left my jacket with Gou. Through the sound of falling water I could clearly hear someone sobbing. I suddenly felt kind of anxious – what if I was wrong and the guy in there was just some random swimmer? Then I'd come off as this really creepy guy who liked to sneak into shower rooms. Just the thought made me shudder and I was ready to turn around and leave the room … but then I saw it.

**The jacket.**

I knew that jacket. A while ago – it seemed like an eternity ago – it was wrapped around my shoulders to keep me warm. Now it was lying on the floor, as if its owner had been in too big of a hurry to care where they placed their jacket.

I went further into the room, where the showers actually were. I soon noticed the lone figure, shaking under a rapid stream of water.

"Sousuke!"

I ran to him. He was sitting on the ground, clutching his right shoulder and obviously in great pain. Having heard my exclamation, he looked up and his eyes widened in shock.

"Y-you …"

By then I was kneeling in front of him, not really caring that I'd get soaked to the bone. I placed a hand on his cheek and then looked at his shoulder. I could see a bright red spot on it and I bit my lower lip. I hesitantly reached out, but he quickly slapped my hand away.

"Don't!" He barked, his face twisted in pain.

I looked back at him. I could tell that he was crying – whether it was from the pain or from the embarrassment of having his secret found out, I wasn't sure. But what really hurt me was that while we had all gathered around Haru, Sousuke had been here, alone. That thought was too much for me, after everything that had happened today, and I started crying as well.

"You should have told me …" I whispered, choking on my tears.

"I know …" He tried to smile faintly but his pain was too much and all he could manage was a tortured grimace. "I'm sorry … I fucked up …"

"Sousuke …" I stroked his cheek with my thumb. "How are you going to swim like that?"

"I don't …" He choked and closed his eyes. "I don't know …" He whispered so quietly that I had to read the words off his lips. He slowly leaned forward, until he was resting his head on my shoulder, and wept.


	13. Chapter 13

For a while nothing else could be heard except Sousuke's quiet sobbing and the sound of falling water. We were sitting in a quite uncomfortable position right now – I was kneeling between Sousuke's legs and he had his head on my shoulder while his left arm was wrapped around me. I could clearly see the red spot on his aching shoulder. I hated it that now that Sousuke finally needed me and yet I couldn't think of anything to do to make him feel better. Licking my lips slowly, I gently placed a hand on his shoulder, being extremely careful not to cause him any more pain. I felt him flinch and quickly moved my hand away from him.

"S-sorry! I didn't-"

"No …" He interrupted me with a much softer voice. He raised his head to look at me, then he took my hand and put it back on his injured shoulder. "It feels nice. Makes it hurt less." He was starting to calm down, to my relief. "You … you're all wet now …"

"It's fine." I said, shrugging. "It's not my biggest concern right now."

He nodded and then turned his head away.

"I'm sorry." He whispered – I could barely hear his voice over the shower. "I wanted to tell you for so long … but I couldn't. I was scared."

"Why were you scared?" I asked, confused and a little bit irritated. It kind of hurt to know that Sousuke didn’t trust me enough to tell me about this sooner. Or maybe he had been too proud to admit that he was in pain? "Wait a minute … you wanted to tell me for **so long**? Just how long has your shoulder been giving you troubles?" I had assumed that this was some injury that he had received recently … the thought that Sousuke had been suffering for a while hadn't even crossed my mind.

_Wait … Does this mean that his shoulder may never heal?_

He didn't reply to me. He closed his eyes and started shaking again.

"Sorry! I'm really sorry! P-please, calm down!" I quickly said. "We'll talk about it some other time, when you're not so upset." I wanted to know, of course, I was dying to learn the truth, but how could I question him when he was like that? I wouldn't do anything so heartless! Sousuke needed me to comfort him and that was what I was going to do. Everything else could wait.

He nodded and then looked at me. He shoved my hand off his shoulder and then lifted me – he was using only his left hand but he was strong enough to be able to move me – and pulled me closer to him, placing me onto his lap. I blushed brightly, but before I could say anything, he kissed me on the lips. I knew that this probably wasn’t the best time to do this, but I couldn’t resist the temptation. I kissed back, tilting my head a bit, reasoning that if Sousuke needed this kind of comfort, then I was more than willing to give it to him.

We made out for a while until Sousuke gently broke the kiss. He rested his head on the tiled wall behind him and gave me a light smile. I smiled too – he was already beginning to look like the old Sousuke. That was a good thing, right?

"You're soaked to the bone." He looked at me and then tugged my wet T-shirt, frowning.

"That's because I'm standing under a running shower." I pointed out, chuckling lightly. "Don't worry … it's a warm day, so I'll dry off soon."

He smiled again and ran his fingers along my cheek. I shuddered a bit - his touch was so gentle! I could scarcely believe that someone who looked so big and a bit intimidating at first glance – or at second, to be quite honest – could have such a delicate touch.

"You're something special." He murmured, the look in his eyes suddenly becoming distant.

"Huh?" I blushed and looked away. "T-thanks … I guess … I hope you mean the good kind of special!" I said in a desperate attempt to make him smile again.

He did so, the corners of his lips tugging slightly upwards, and then nodded.

"Of course that I do. You are so kind-hearted and strong. I'm … happy that I met you."

I blinked but I couldn't help how happy his words made me. It was kind of bittersweet – Sousuke was in so much suffering and yet he still did everything he could to make **me** smile.

_How I wish there were something I can do for him … Or at least something I can say. I feel so helpless right now … if I can't make him smile, then he deserves someone better!_

I leaned down and pressed my lips against his shoulder lightly. I heard Sousuke inhaling sharply and for a moment thought that I had caused him pain, but then he groaned in pleasure quietly. Encouraged, I kissed him again and again, making sure that I wasn't pressing too hard on his shoulder.

"Mmm … that feels nice…" He muttered.

I smiled. This was exactly what I was hoping to achieve! I wanted him to forget about his pain, about his shoulder, about everything. And I wanted to be the one who made him forget all the bad things. I continued kissing his shoulder, feeling it pulsating lightly beneath my lips.

_I wish this moment never ended. I know that it's selfish, but I wish we could stay like this forever, just holding each other … this right now is a perfect moment._

I had no idea how much time had passed. All I knew was that Sousuke and I had been in each other's arms for at least twenty minutes, completely silent – all I could hear was the sound of falling water and his soft breathing. Finally, Sousuke stirred and straightened up. He winced slightly – the movement had caused some pain in his shoulder.

"I think we should go …" He muttered, even though it was obvious that he didn't want to move at all. "Your friends will wonder where you are."

"Oh, right … Um, I don’t think that they will look for me any time soon …" I muttered, remembering what had happened with Haru and the others earlier. I wondered if they had managed to sort things out. I certainly hoped that they had. "Matsuoka-kun is probably looking for you too, huh?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he is." He replied, nodding his head. "Um … please don't tell anyone."

_You mean don't tell Matsuoka-kun, don't you?_

I didn't need to ask what he was talking about. I sighed, frowning slightly.

"I won't. It's your secret and I have no right to tell anyone about it. But Sousuke-kun …" I looked at him sadly. "You should tell Matsuoka-kun. He deserves to know. He's the captain of the swim team **and** your friend."

"I don't …" His voice trailed off and he looked away, swallowing hard.

"I know that it won't be easy, but if you think that you're doing him a favour by keeping quiet about it, you're wrong." I said softly. "My parents pulled the same trick recently. The worst part was that I knew they were hiding something from me and it hurt me knowing that they didn't trust me enough to tell me. What if your friend feels the same way?"

"He probably knows already …" Sousuke muttered.

"Then that's yet another reason to talk to him." I said sternly. "Please … promise me that you'll do that?"

"… fine …"

I sighed and smiled at him. I knew how hard it must be for him. He had been swimming for so long, he had dreams of helping his team win, of going pro with swimming … and now his shoulder was injured and he couldn't achieve his dreams … It was an athlete's worst nightmare.

"Sousuke … I know that things seem pretty bad now, but just know that I am here for you. Ok?" I said softly. I stood up and turned the shower off, then offered my hand to Sousuke to help him stand up.

"Yeah." He nodded. He didn't take my hand – I guessed he was pretty embarrassed and didn't want to seem even weaker in front of me – and managed to get up on his own, supporting himself on the wall. "Thank you."

I smiled. It felt nice to hear him say that – Sousuke had always been so independent, it felt nice that he was relying on me right now.

"You should go back to your friends." He said quietly. Grabbing his jacket, he wrapped it around me. I tried to protest, but he hushed me with a quick kiss. "I don't want you to catch a cold."

Frowning, I mused that he was more likely to catch a cold than me, but I didn't say anything.


	14. Chapter 14

I was walking to the changing rooms – I knew that Sousuke had gone there after we left the shower and I wanted to give him his jacket back. People were starting to give me odd looks, since I was wearing a jacket almost three times my size, and it was making me feel a bit awkward. I also wanted to check up on him and see how he was doing.

"Um … hello?" I called out a bit timidly as I walked into the room.

There was only one person in there – Sousuke. He was sitting on a bench, applying some sort of cooling ailment to his shoulder. It was still red – in fact, I thought that it looked even redder than before. When he heard me coming in, he looked up, startled for a second, but when he realized that it was me he sighed in relief and turned his attention back to his injury.

"Here's your jacket." I said as I placed it on the bench next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"It still hurts." He replied with a sigh. "But it's fine. I've known for a while how this would end."

"Wait … if you knew about your shoulder, then … why are you swimming?" I couldn't stop myself from asking this. "I mean, I know that you love swimming, but this can't possibly be good for you."

"I'll be fine." He said, smiling lightly. He took the jacket and put it on, covering his injured shoulder.

And just in time too! Not a second later Nitori entered, apparently searching for Sousuke. It seemed like Rin's race had started. He was kind of surprised to see me here as well, but what worried me more was that Sousuke's cooling spray was still in sight. Naturally, the light-haired swimmer saw it and began asking questions about it.

"A-ah! That's for me!" I replied before Sousuke could react. I grabbed the spray and put it in my pocket. "I … fell in the pool, you see, and I think that I might have hurt my wrist." There was no logical connection between those two lies, but I had never been good at thinking on my feet. "And Sousuke was kind enough to give me this. He says that it will really help me." I smiled softly, praying in desperation that Nitori would buy the lie. Sousuke didn't need to have his secret revealed in such a clichéd manner – he had to be the one to tell his teammates about it.

"Oh." Nitori frowned slightly, but to my relief he seemed to accept my explanation. "Well then … Rin-senpai's race is about to start."

"I'll come in a second. You go on ahead." Sousuke said, standing up.

Nitori nodded and left. Once we were left alone, Sousuke turned to me with a grateful expression on his face. I smiled and gave him the spray back. We stood in a somewhat awkward silence for a few minutes. I was looking at my feet, not really sure what else to do.

"You should go and cheer for your friend." I finally spoke up. "And please, don't forget that you promised me you'd tell him."

"I know." He nodded. He took one step towards me and pecked me on the lips. "You are a terrible liar, by the way." He added, smirking lightly.

I blushed and looked away embarrassed. I had never liked being deceitful, especially to someone like Nitori who didn't deserve it at all.

"W-well … is that a bad thing?" I asked.

He chuckled and ruffled my hair playfully. Leaning down, he rested his forehead against mine and stared at me for a few seconds before kissing me again. This time the kiss lasted longer. I closed my eyes, enjoying his taste on my lips.

_I'll never get enough of this!_

"Can I see you after the relay?"

"A-ah … Sure …" I muttered.

_He still plans to swim in the relay?_

We exited the changing room together and then parted ways, each of us going to their team. The race must have already started, since I could hear the crowd cheering for the swimmers. I quickened my pace, eager to see how Rin would perform.

"E-eh?!"

I blinked and managed to jump away just in time. Haru walked past me – I wasn't sure if he'd even noticed me – and a few seconds later Makoto appeared. He stopped when he saw me.

"Angel-kun … Did you see Haru?"

"Yeah." I nodded and pointed down the hallway. "He went that way … Did something happen again?"

"I'm not sure. We were watching Rin swim and then he just … ran off." He sighed. "Will you help me look for him?"

"Sure." I replied. "I think we should split up though. We'll have a better chance of finding him."

Makoto agreed with me and we darted off in different directions. I wandered around, looking in the changing rooms and in the shower rooms. Haru was nowhere to be seen. I was beginning to grow desperate and worried. I hoped that Makoto had better luck at finding jim.

_If Haru is really upset about something, I'm sure that Makoto will be able to make him feel better._

"Uwah!" I had been lost in my thoughts and I wasn't looking where I was going, so naturally I bumped into someone. Looking up, I saw that it was Rin. "Oh … Sorry …"

"Don't sweat about it." He told me with a smirk. "So …" He stepped closer and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I hear you and Sousuke are pretty close."

"I guess that we are … " I muttered, blushing and looking down at the floor.

"I see." Suddenly his smirk faded and he looked at me with a serious expression on his face. "Then can you tell me what's going on? He hasn't been acting like himself for a while now."

"Ah …" I felt a cold drop of sweat rolling down my cheek. The situation was very complicated. I knew what was wrong with Sousuke, but I also knew that it was not my place to tell Rin. It was Sousuke who had to do it. "Maybe you should talk with Sousuke about this?"

"I tried to, but he always avoids answering." He frowned.

"Why don't you ask him again?" I suggested desperately.

Rin looked at me and his frown deepened.

"So you **do** know what's going on…" He said and then started walking, dragging me with him, ignoring my feeble protests. "We're gonna go see Sousuke and he's gonna tell me everything!"

* * *

We soon found him. Sousuke was sitting on a bench near the vending machines. His eyes were closed and he was leaning on the glass wall behind him. I wondered if he even knew that Rin and I were there. He was holding his shoulder and flinched slightly when I saw that.

Had Rin noticed that too?

"Sousuke."

Sousuke opened his eyes and stared at us with a slightly gaping mouth. His gaze shifted from Rin to me. I could see a question in his teal orbs – a question he didn't dare ask out loud – and I shook my head, silently assuring him that I hadn't said anything to his friend. He seemed relieved and moved his attention back to Rin.

"Tell me what's wrong." The red-headed boy said, sitting next to him.

I bit my lower lip. Now was the time. I looked at Sousuke – he was so scared, the poor guy! I could tell that he didn't want to break the news to his friend. But it was the right thing to do. He **had** to tell him.

_It's ironic how the right thing to do is always the hardest._

"Nothing's wrong."

I gaped at the two stupidly. This was **not** the answer I was expecting. What happened to telling Rin the truth? What happened to our promise?

"Um … I think I should go …" I muttered. I felt like if I stayed here any longer, I'd burst and spill the beans myself. It was agony watching Sousuke struggle like that. But as I was about to leave, both Rin and Sousuke grabbed me, thwarting my escape. I had no choice but to stay, apparently.

Rin sighed and stood up, going to the vending machines. This surprised me – I was expecting that he'd press Sousuke for the turth. It was really disappointing that he'd accept a mere "nothing's wrong". I looked at Sousuke, pouting slightly. He sighed and shook his head.

"Tell him." I whispered, leaning closer to him so that Rin wouldn’t hear me.

"I will." He whispered back.

"Sousuke." We both turned to Rin. He was looking at Sousuke and was holding a can of soda. "Here. It's on me." He said, tossing the can towards Sousuke, who reached out to grab it.

With his right hand.

I winced even before it happened. I saw his teal eyes widening in shock and pain and then heard a soft clang when the soda can hit the floor and rolled away from the bench. Sousuke bit his lower lip and looked down at his feet. I wanted to go to him, embrace him, comfort him, even shield him from Rin's reaction - whatever it might be - but I couldn't move. This was between Rin and Sousuke now.

"So … You have hurt your shoulder?" Rin said and stepped closer to his friend, grabbing his jacket. "Let me see."

"No…"

"Let me see!"

With one swift move, he managed to open and tug down Sousuke's jacket, revealing his bare shoulder. It was still bright red and there was no doubt that it still caused him pain. I swallowed hard and stepped closer, putting a hand on his shoulder and gently caressing it. He closed his eyes briefly and leaned closer to me.

"How long has your shoulder been like that?" Rin asked quietly.

"Since this morning."

"Don't lie to me." Rin growled, the threat in his voice was more than evident. "There's no way your shoulder got like that so quickly!"

"Matsuoka-kun …" I muttered. "Be more gentle … please …"

"It's fine." Sousuke patted me on the hand and then smiled at Rin. "I could never lie to you, huh?" He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "My shoulder has been like that for two years. It happened in the summer after 10th grade."

Two years?! He had been like that for **two** **years**? How terrible it must have been for Sousuke, being in constant pain and unable to do the one thing he loved so much …

"But you said that you were scouted …" Rin muttered.

"I'm sorry … I lied about that."

I gasped quietly. I wasn't aware just how far Sousuke had gone to hide his health problems. Was swimming that important to him? Didn't he realize that he was risking his health that way?

"Rin … let's go and talk somewhere else."

They didn't seem to be paying much attention to me, so I tried to leave quietly. However, as soon as I moved my hand away from Sousuke's shoulder, he spun around and grabbed me by the wrist, pulling me closer to him.

"You'll come too. You need to hear this."

* * *

"… and eventually, my shoulder broke down completely." Sousuke chuckled bitterly. "Of course that it would …"

I sniffed quietly as I listened. It was all so sad … and Sousuke was talking with such a calm voice, as if he'd already accepted it. It was unsettling how composed he was with this.

"I decided to give up swimming."

"What?" Rin and I exclaimed at the same time.

I went to Sousuke and took his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Please … don't say that … You love swimming!" I cried out desperately. It wasn't fair, not fair at all! Why did Sousuke have to give up on a dream he'd had since childhood, and because he was working too hard to achieve it? How cruel was that? "Please, start doing your physical therapy again. If you're patient and take it slow this time, your shoulder **will** heal and you can continue with your dream! It will just take you a couple of more years probably, but that's ok! You still have time!"

Sousuke smiled and wiped the tears from my cheek. He didn't seem to have listened to me, though, and was still resolved to follow through with his plans. But why? His shoulder could be fixed and he was still young enough to give up a couple of years to heal it. If he really concentrated and started right away, he could probably be swimming again before he was 20! So why was he giving up so easily? That wasn't like him at all!

Upset, I slapped his hand away, spun around and ran off. I heard Sousuke and Rin calling after me, but all their voices did was to make me run even faster. I couldn't believe this. For the first time since I'd met him, I was furious with Sousuke. Why was he so keen on swimming with Rin? And why was Rin so willing to let him potentially lose the use of his right hand? Why were everyone around me so obsessed with swimming?!

I stopped when I was certain that I was far away from the two. Thank god that all that training had made me faster! I was sure that they hadn't followed me, but I still looked around warily. There was no one around me, which made me sigh in relief. I sighed, slumping to the ground and hugging my knees tightly.

_Maybe I should go back to the hotel … I can tell Makoto and the others that I'm not feeling well. It would suck, not being able to see their relay, but I just won't be able to watch Sousuke swim with his shoulder …_

"Angel."

I looked up and gaped when I saw that Haru was standing in front of me. How did he even know that I was here?

"So you know about Yamazaki's shoulder?"

"Huh? How did **you** know about that?" I exclaimed.

"I heard it from Kisumi." He replied. "I … heard you. Just now, when you were with him and Rin."

"You did?" I blinked and then suddenly stood up, hugging him tightly. "Please! You're good friends with Matsuoka-kun, right? **Please** … tell him not to let Sousuke swim. What if Sousuke's shoulder gets worse? It's not worth it."

Haru didn't reply immediately. He stood there like a statue, allowing me to sob for a minute or two. He didn't try to comfort me at all, but on the other hand he didn't push me away, so I supposed this was the best Haru could manage.

"Yamazaki wants to become Rin's true friend." He finally replied. "And the only way he can do that is if he swims with Rin today."

"Oh my god! Do you listen to yourself?" I exclaimed angrily. "You’re saying that he can become Rin's friend only if he swims today and busts his shoulder completely. Is this how you think friendships are made? Because this is **messed** **up**!" I took a deep breath, though that didn't calm me down one bit. "If Matsuoka-kun expects Sousuke to risk his health just to prove that he can be his friend, then I don't think that he's the kind of friend anyone needs! What if I came up to you and asked you to chop off your leg or we won't be friends? Would you do it?"

"Do you love Yamazaki?" Haru asked calmly, acting as if my rant had never happened.

I drew in a sharp breath and looked up at him. He had the same calm expression he always wore and I wasn't sure if he genuinely wanted to know. Even if he did, I didn't know what to answer. I had never been in love, I had no idea what love was supposed to feel like. I looked down, letting go of Haru's jacket – I had been gripping it tightly without even knowing it – and took a step back.

"I … I don't know. I'm not sure." I muttered. "How do you know if you love someone?"

"You love someone when you realize you don't ever want to be away from him, even for a second."

I blinked. That had actually been a rhetorical question, yet Haru had answered it without batting an eye. He didn't even say anything about water! And he was talking about a guy too … I shifted a bit awkwardly.

"That sounds kind of … obsessive." I said carefully. "And … I don't know. I like Sousuke, I like it when I'm with him, when we're … uh, kissing." I blushed. "But I'm not sure if I love him. I mean, I haven't known him for that long and we actually see each other very rarely, you know?"

"Will you watch his race?"

"No." I shook my head. "I couldn't bear it."

Haru was silent. He turned his head away, looking up to the sky and watching a bird which was lazily circling somewhere in the clouds above us.

"You should stay and watch him." He finally said, not taking his eyes off the bird. "You love him, and maybe you don't like the decision he's made, but you need to be there for him. I think that he needs your support as much as he needs Rin's, maybe even more." He looked at me. "Why is it so important to you that he doesn't swim today?"

"Because … then he won't have a chance to go pro. And that's his dream!" I exclaimed.

"If it were his dream, he would do it." Haru shook his head. "If he wants to swim with Rin, then that is his dream now."

I tilted my head, pondering Haru's words. Sousuke didn't look like someone who would ever do something he didn't want to do. So maybe Haru was right?

"I can't understand you people at all." I muttered sadly.

"Come on. Let's go." Haru said, not paying attention to my words.

He really wasn't listening to me at all, was he? I sighed.

"Ah … you go and get ready for the relay. I need to go see Sousuke." Now that I had calmed down a bit and had some time to reflect on everything that had happened, I felt a bit guilty and ashamed at how I had reacted. I needed to apologize to Sousuke.

I found him and the rest of his relay team in the changing rooms. They were all in their swimsuits and were just about to head to the pool. When I burst in the room, they all looked up. I ignored Momo's and Nitori's startled faces and went straight to Sousuke. He was looking at me with a slightly opened mouth.

"I'm sorry … about earlier." I said. "I didn't realize what swimming in the relay meant to you. And … I'm still not sure I fully understand but I want to be here for you. I told you that I would be."

He smiled lightly and hugged me, kissing the top of my head.

"Thank you." He whispered in my hair. "It really means a lot to me."

I smiled too and got out of his hug so that I could kiss his injured shoulder gently.

"Good luck." I said.

Suddenly I felt someone wrap his arms around me and pull me closer to them. I looked to the side and was met with a grinning Momotarou.

"Angel-kun, does this mean that you will be cheering for us and not your team?" He asked slyly.

I blinked and struggled to shake him off. I could already sense that Sousuke was getting irritated and I didn't want them to start fighting right before the relay. They were a team after all.

"Momo! Let's go outside!" Rin grabbed the ginger by the arm and pulled him to the door, followed by a very flustered Nitori.

When Sousuke and I were left alone, I shifted a bit uncomfortably. I had said everything I wanted to, so now I had no idea what to do. Maybe I should go back to Gou and Ama-chan? Suddenly Sousuke grabbed me and hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry. I know that it doesn't make sense to you. But this is something that I want to do." He muttered.

"I know." I replied. "Sousuke … you should follow your dreams. If you want to swim with your friend, do it. I'll be cheering for you." I smiled. "I … I like you, so I want you to be happy." I blushed. Why was this so embarrassing? I could make out with Sousuke, but I couldn't tell him how I felt? How ridiculous … "Uh … you should probably go back to your team. The relay will start soon."

"Yeah." He chuckled quietly. Lifting my chin, he kissed me softly on the lips. "I like you too. Angel …"

* * *

"Nagisa, how can you still not be packed?" Makoto asked, sighing in exasperation.

The ever-cheerful swimmer giggled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. We were about to leave in half an hour, yet Nagisa hadn't packed even a single sock. We had all gathered in our room, except for Gou and Ama-chan, and were trying to help him, which turned out to be an almost impossible task, since Nagisa had scattered his belongings everywhere.

"We did it! We made it to nationals!" Nagisa exclaimed suddenly.

"Yeah, you did." I nodded, smiling.

The relay had been exhausting to watch. Our team's performance was perfect, as I had expected it would be, but I still shuddered when I remembered how my heart almost stopped. Despite what I had told Sousuke, I was very worried about him and still thought that it was a bad idea for him to swim in the relay. And for a few painful seconds it seemed like I was right. Sousuke started out well, but at some point his shoulder must have started aching so badly that he couldn't go on. He started falling behind and I yelped in fear when I saw that he couldn't even emerge from the water. Frozen with fear, I thought that he might drown!

I was almost ready to jump over the railing and run to the pool. I was out of my mind. Thankfully, Gou and the others were there to hold me back, otherwise I would have jumped in the pool to save Sousuke. Looking back, I was glad I hadn't done it, because he managed to overcome his pain and finish the relay.

Nevertheless, I was still feeling nervous whenever I thought about the relay. Sousuke could have drowned! Just thinking about that made me feel like the ground would crumble beneath me and I wanted to cry. I could have lost him today … I sighed and covered my eyes with my hand.

"By the way, Angel-chan, will you be here to see us at nationals?" Nagisa asked.

"Eh? Of course that I'll be here!" I replied, looking at him confused. "Why do you even ask?"

"Well … you're going back home, right?"

I blinked and then frowned slightly, looking at Makoto. He was the only one whom I had told about that, after all. He flinched and waved his hands defensively.

"I just … Haru kept asking me what was wrong and I finally told him. And Nagisa happened to overhear us."

"Which means…" I said slowly, turning to Rei. "That you know too, right?"

He coughed embarrassed and adjusted his glasses. That was enough confirmation for me. I sighed. So much for trusting Makoto to keep his mouth shut.

"Are you really going to leave us, Angel-chan?" Nagisa asked sadly.

"Makoto-kun shouldn't have told you anything." I said, shaking my head. "I planned on telling you guys after the relay, since I didn't want you to get distracted. You see- uh …"

I couldn’t finish the sentence, because at that moment I saw that Sousuke was standing in the room. I didn't remember him entering, we had left the door open, so it wasn't that surprising that someone could manage to sneak in unnoticed. Sousuke was staring at me wide-eyed.

"You're going to leave me?!"

It took him only two large steps to reach me. He was paying no attention to Haru or the others. He grabbed me by the shoulders, squeezing a bit too tightly, and shook me. His lower lip was quivering. It was obvious that the thought of me leaving had shaken him quite a bit.

"You can't leave!" He exclaimed. "Please … I can't … I just …" He seemed to realize that there were other people in the room and he trailed off, blushing.

I sighed. Oh god, this had turned into such a mess!

"Okay, listen up." I looked at Makoto. "Makoto-kun, didn't you tell them that I only **thought** that my parents wanted to go back? That seems like a crucial part to omit …" I sighed and looked back at Sousuke. I took his hands gently and smiled at him. "I'm not leaving Japan. My parents initially did want to go back to Wales, but then we discussed it and we agreed that things could work out even if we stayed here. You see … my mom is pregnant." I grinned. "I'm going to have a baby sibling."

Everyone were in stunned silence for a few seconds and then they started cheering. Nagisa even leapt at me, landing between me and Sousuke and hugging me tightly.

"That's so cool!" He exclaimed, holding me so tightly I felt like he was trying to crush my bones. "Angel-chan, you're gonna be a big brother!"

"Yeah." I chuckled and looked at Sousuke. He hadn't said anything; he was just staring at me and his face was an amusing mix of guilt and relief. "Um, hey guys, I'll wait for you in the lobby, ok?" I gently pushed Nagisa away and took Sousuke's hand. "Come on."

Taking my bag in my other hand, I led Sousuke out of the room and to the elevator. He was still silent and I felt kind of guilty. He had looked so scared when he thought that I was leaving … But how was I supposed to know that he'd come into the room at the most inappropriate of moments!

"Hey …" I said softly as we stepped into the elevator. "Say something."

"I'm sorry." He sighed. "I just. When I heard that you might leave … I couldn't … I can't lose you." Suddenly he was hugging me again, with his nose buried in my hair. "I need you."

"You … need me?" I blinked.

"Yes." He replied. "I couldn't have made it today without you. When I was swimming, I knew that you were watching. I wanted to make you proud. That's why I kept swimming even through the pain."

"And I am proud of you." I quickly said. "Really! What you did today was incredible!"

He smiled and stroked my cheek, then kissed me gently.

"You're so amazing." He whispered against my lips. "I want to be with you."

I blushed and nodded shyly, muttering that I wanted to be with him as well. After saying that, I hid my face in his broad chest. I was feeling a bit embarrassed, but so happy and relieved! Sousuke appeared to be fine and we were now together!

It really seemed like a perfect happy ending!


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Angel-chan, you look really happy today!" Nagisa exclaimed.

The three of us – Rei was with us too – were going home after school. It was a nice, warm summer day and we had decided to walk instead of taking the train so that we could enjoy the pleasant weather.

"Well, I received some good news his morning." I chirped happily. "I've told you about my best friend Oliver, haven't I? Well, he's finished the school year already, so he's coming here to visit me. I'm really excited – I haven't seen him in such a long time! It's going to be really fun!"

"Oh, that's so cool!" Nagisa exclaimed. "I can't wait to meet your best friend! How long will he stay with you?"

"About two weeks, I think."

Nagisa beamed happily and clapped his hands in excitement. However, Rei just frowned and adjusted his glasses.

"Angel-kun, isn't that the friend that you used to date?" He asked.

"Ah, y-yeah …" I nodded, frowning slightly. "But that was a very long time ago and we had a mutual break-up. Now we're just friends."

"But do you think that Yamazaki-kun would be comfortable with your ex-boyfriend staying in your house?"

"Well, I don't see why not …" I shrugged. "Oliver and I are only friends now, seriously! There are no romantic feelings whatsoever left between us. And I don't think that Sousuke is so insecure that he would be bothered by my best friend staying over for a couple of weeks … Eh, right?"

"Aww, Rei-chan, do you think that Sou-chan will get jealous?" Nagisa chuckled, playfully poking the blue-haired boy in the cheek.

Rei blushed and swiftly shook his head, excuses and apologies gushing out of him in a rapid stream. I chuckled – I didn't really feel offended by what he had said. I was also slightly nervous about how my boyfriend would react. In all honesty, **I** would be a bit concerned if Sousuke told me that someone he used to date would be staying with him. I supposed it was only natural to be worried about these kinds of things – if you were indifferent, then you didn't really care about your relationship, right?

_Well, I'm sure that once he meets Oliver and sees that there's nothing between us, he'd relax._

"Hey, Angel-chan, what are you going to do tomorrow?" Nagisa asked me. "Mako-chan wants us all to go see the fireworks. He also wants us all to be there to talk to Haru-chan."

"Oh … I'm afraid that Sousuke already asked me to go with him and I said yes." I smiled apologetically. "Um … maybe we'll see you guys there?"

"Oh, so you're going on a date!" The ever-cheerful blond smiled deviously and nudged me in the ribs. "You better pick a cute outfit, Angel-chan!"

"I've already picked an outfit, Nagisa-kun." I chuckled, blushing lightly. "And please don't make a big deal out of this. Sousuke and I have gone on dates before you know ..." Not actual dates, in all honesty, but I still thought of them as dates.

"Yeah, but this one will be especially romantic because of the fireworks." Nagisa chuckled. "You should know these kinds of stuff." He added, shaking a finger at me and winking.

"Hm … you're right …" I muttered. Fireworks **did** make everything seem more romantic... "I may need to reconsider my outfit then."

"I can help you!" Nagisa immediately suggested and then patted Rei on the back. "And Rei-chan will too! Right?" He flashed our classmate a toothy grin.

"Nagisa-kun, we need to study." Rei reminded him, adjusting his glasses with a sigh. "Besides, I'm sure that Angel-kun would like to pick his outfit himself."

"Actually … I'd appreciate some help. I'm not exactly good when it comes to fashion." I chuckled a bit nervously. "I was thinking of wearing my red pants, a T-shirt and a sweater."

Nagisa just silently stared at me, blinking. I could see the judgement in his eyes and shifted uncomfortably.

"Angel-chan … this is **bad**." He finally said. "You're going out with your boyfriend. You should dress pretty."

"I thought my outfit was pretty …." I muttered weakly.

"It isn't." He shook his head. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me towards him and then looked forward with a needlessly determined expression on his face. "Rei-chan, we shall have to leave the studying for later! Angel-chan needs our help." He declared, his fist shooting up in the air.

"That is way too dramatic for this situation." Rei said, sighing, and I nodded in agreement. Sometimes Nagisa could be excessively dramatic. I often thought that he'd make a good actor. He certainly had passion.

"No it isn't, Rei-chan! Come on!" The blond chirped happily as he dashed forward, pulling me along. Rei muttered something helplessly before following us.

* * *

"I could have come to your house to pick you up."

"I know." I smiled and kissed Sousuke on the cheek. We had met up at the train station near my house and were now walking to our destination, enjoying the warm evening air. "But I also know that you get **slightly** nervous of the idea of meeting my parents."

"True." He admitted readily. "How's your mother, by the way?"

"She's fine. She really excited about the baby. She keeps looking at my baby photos and reminiscing." I chuckled. "In fact, it was better that you didn't show up at my house. She would have kept telling you about me as a baby."

"I can imagine how embarrassing that would be for you." He nodded, chuckling. "But I would do it if it meant that your parents would like me."

"Wait … are you really concerned about that?" I asked, looking at him surprised.

"Yes, I am. I want them to like me. And I know that I don't make a good first impression." He sighed. "It seems like I come off as intimidating at first glance."

"Well, that's sorta true ..." I nodded thoughtfully. "I remember that I didn't really like you either when I first saw you. Well, actually, I liked your looks, but not your attitude. But I guess that was because you said that I wasn't impressive at all."

"I remember that. Sorry ..." Sousuke smiled a bit sadly. "I … wasn’t really nice before … You should have seen Nitori’s face when he met me the first time."

"I can imagine. I think the reason why you seem so scary is the fact that you frown a lot. You should try smiling more often." I chuckled. "Besides, when we first met, you were talking about my swimming and it was rather bad back then, so I guess you were right ..."

We walked in silence for a few minutes. I nervously tugged my shirt – the outfit that Nagisa had picked out for me was a bit uncomfortable. It did look cuter than what I had planned to wear, though.

"I liked you." Sousuke said suddenly. "When we first met, I mean. I thought you were cute."

"You did?" I blushed lightly. "Sure didn't seem like it then."

"I'm … not very good at these sorts of things." He admitted quietly. "This is … this is actually my first relationship."

"Really?" I looked at him. "I never would have thought... How is it possible that you've never dated anyone before!?"

"I just … I never met someone I was attracted to before." He admitted, looking away. I could see that he was blushing – was it possible that he was actually embarrassed? "And I was mainly focused on training, so I thought that being in a relationship would distract me from my goals."

"Well … that certainly sounds like you." I muttered, frowning slightly. "It's kinda sad though … you must have been lonely."

"I have you now." He smiled.

I blushed lightly and moved closer to my boyfriend, nuzzling into him. It was nice to hear that from him.

"That's really sweet, Sousuke. I'm really glad that we're together."

"So am I." We walked in silence for a while again. "So … am I to understand that you've been in a relationship before?"

"Eh … yeah." I nodded. "I used to go out with a friend of mine. But it didn't work out." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second. Might as well get this over with. "But we're still friends. In fact … he's my best friend. And … he might be coming to visit me soon."

Sousuke stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me, slowly raising an eyebrow. I could see his jaw clenching and flinched. Apparently he wasn't taking the news very well. I gulped and looked down.

Maybe I should have waited for a better time to tell him about Oliver …

"Um … Sousuke? A-are you feeling alright?"

"Your ex is going to stay with you?" He asked in a cold voice.

"...?" I sighed. "He's not my ex. I mean, sure, we dated and we broke up, but it happened a long time ago and now we're just friends. He's dated other people after me and now I'm with you. We're just friends now." I took his hand and squeezed it. "I really like you, Sousuke. I need you to be ok with this."

"I … I'll need some time to get used to this." He said quietly, looking down.

"I understand." I smiled. "Well, you'll have enough time. And … I hope that you will want to meet Oliver. I'd really love it if you two got along well."

"I'll try my best."

"Thanks." I smiled and hugged him. "I'm sure that when you meet Oliver, things will go smoothly. And ..." I looked at him and smirked. "I'll have to thank you properly."

Sousuke looked at me. To my relief he grinned and hugged me tightly, kissing me on the top of the head.

"Mmm … and how do you propose you'll do that?" He murmured softly in my hair.

"I don't know ..." I giggled. "Maybe I'll kiss you, like that ..." I demonstrated by pressing my lips against his. "Or … maybe I'll kiss you **here** ..." I said, moving my lips to his neck and biting it lightly.

"Damn ..." I heard Sousuke whisper as his grip on me tightened. "Keep doing that and I won't be responsible for my actions."

"Fine." I chuckled and moved away. "I'll stop for now. I want to see the fireworks."

* * *

We reached the beach on time and managed to find a somewhat secluded spot from where we had a clear view of the firework show. We sat down on the still warm sand.

"The ocean looks really calm … Makes me want to go swimming." I smiled. "Actually, it doesn’t. The water would be freezing." I added after a few seconds, chuckling.

"Rin and I used to swim in the ocean when we were kids." Sousuke said. "It's definitely not the same as swimming in a pool."

"I bet." I smiled and leaned closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder. "I really like it here."

"I'm glad." He was silent for a few minutes. "Hey … thanks for coming here with me. I bet that your teammates are also here."

"They are." I nodded. "They invited me, but I told them that I'd rather go with you."

"Thank you. How are they feeling about … you know … us?"

"They're supportive." I replied. "Even Haru-kun, if you can believe it. And what about your friends?"

"Well … Rin thinks that "it was about time". He takes credit for us getting together, for some reason."

"He did play matchmaker that one time." I reminded him. "Very horribly, if I might add."

"True." Sousuke laughed. "It was so embarrassing! The worst part is that he thought he was being subtle. He was actually surprised to learn that I knew what he had been trying to do!"

I chuckled.

"It seems like Matsuoka-kun thinks too much of himself, huh?" I asked amused. "He may be a good swimmer, but he definitely lacks skill in other areas."

Sousuke nodded, falling silent once again. I did so too and started to draw figures on the sand around me. The fireworks wouldn't start for another fifteen minutes.

"Uh … can we talk about your friend? The one that's going to stay with you..." Sousuke suddenly spoke up.

"Oh, ok. And his name is Oliver, by the way."

"I'll try to remember that." He muttered. "So … how serious were you two?"

"We weren't serious at all. Look, we were both fourteen years old at the time, we hadn't been in a relationship before that and it really didn't mean much to us beyond "having someone to kiss". We never really took it seriously, which is why our break-up felt so natural, I guess." I shrugged.

"But … you didn't date anyone after that until now ..."

"Yeah, but that wasn't because I was hung up on him or anything like that. I mean, I went out with a few guys, but things didn't work out with any of them." I smiled. "Are you feeling better now?"

"I am … I'm sorry." He sighed. "I just don't want to lose you. I know that it sounds pathetic, but we've known each other only for a few months and you and your ex have been friends for years. How I can possibly measure up to him?"

"You're worried about that too?" I exclaimed. "I often think that I might never get to know you as well as Matsuoka-kun does …"

"Wait … Really?" He looked at me with a slightly opened mouth.

"Well … yeah. I mean, I'm not jealous or worried but … I sometimes get sad thinking that you and I might never … I mean … you’ve been through a lot with him … you’ve been friends since childhood … and as you said, we’ve only known each other for a few months." I confessed quietly. "It's silly, I know."

"If you had told me that before, I would have shrugged it off. But now … I can understand that." Sousuke said, frowning slightly. "It seems like we both have people in our lives with whom we're really close."

"Yeah." I nodded. "Let's agree that this won't impact our relationship negatively, ok?"

"Agreed." He smiled and kissed my cheek. "You're really special to me."

I blushed. This was the first time someone outside my family was calling me special. It felt nice. I certainly wouldn't mind hearing it for the rest of my life.

"I think that the fireworks are about to start." Sousuke spoke up.

I straightened up immediately, my eyes darting to the dark sky above the ocean. I licked my lips as I waited in anticipation. Seeing me so eager, Sousuke chuckled and kissed me on the cheek again, muttering something about me being like a little kid. A few minutes later the fireworks started. Back home, I had seen a fair number of firework shows, but this one felt better. Perhaps because I was watching it with someone special? I couldn't be sure, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the view.

"It's really pretty, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah." He chuckled. "Are you gonna draw it later?"

"You bet!"


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this chapter introduces Oliver, Angel's English-speaking friend, whenever he or someone else speaks in English, their lines will be in bold and italics.

"Um … guys … You didn't need to come with me, you know?" I muttered, looking down at my feet.

My friend Oliver was arriving today and I was meeting him at the airport. Somehow, Nagisa had found out about that and he had invited Makoto, Haru and Rei to tag along. I knew that they were all looking forward to seeing my best friend, but they could have waited a couple of hours for that, couldn't they? Oliver would surely be too tired from the long flight to meet my friends the second he arrived.

Apparently, Nagisa couldn't wait even a few hours. But seeing him so excited, I couldn't find it in myself to be annoyed at him. It would have been like giving a puppy a treat and then being mad at it for being so happy.

"Ohh, look, his plane just landed!" He exclaimed, pointing to the large screen that showed the arriving flights while jumping up and down in one place.

_Just like a puppy …_

"Yeah, but it will be a while before Oliver actually gets here. He needs to get his passport checked, and then get his luggage … Plus, you can't leave the plane immediately after it lands." I explained, smiling lightly.

"Really?" He whistled, eyes slightly wide. "I never knew that! Haru-chan, did you go through the same when you went to Australia with Rin-chan?"

"Maybe … I don't know." He shrugged lazily.

"Haru-kun, did you even realize you were flying to Australia at the time?" I asked, chuckling. "You always look so disinterested in everything except swimming, it's a wonder that you were even aware that you were out of the country."

Haru frowned and looked away while the rest of us just laughed.

"That's our Haru-chan, hm?" Nagisa giggled and patted him on the back.

"So, Angel … What's your friend like?" Makoto asked, turning to me. "You've been so quiet about him."

"Oh, I just didn't want you to be prejudiced, you know?" I replied. "He can speak Japanese, although he's not very good at it, so I'll probably need to help him. But he's actually really fun to be around! He wants to be an actor and he's actually really talented. He also likes to surf. I think you'll really like him, guys."

"He sounds great!" Nagisa exclaimed. "Ohh, maybe we can all go to the beach sometimes?"

"That would be fun." I replied, nodding. "I bet Oliver will love that! But we'll have to invite Sousuke too."

"The more the merrier!" He exclaimed. "Maybe Rin-chan and Ai-chan can come too!"

"Well, it sounds like this is going to be one huge party." I chuckled.

"Angel-kun ... Did you talk to Yamazaki-kun about your friend?" Rei asked me.

"I did." I nodded. "He ... wasn't that thrilled, to be honest, which is understandable I guess. But we discussed it and I assured him that he has absolutely nothing to worry about. He's even agreed to meet Oliver."

I was really proud of Sousuke for that. He didn't really enjoy socializing with people and I understood that he probably wasn't looking forward to meeting someone whom I had dated. I knew that he was doing this simply for my sake and I was grateful to him for that.

_I should make sure to thank him properly after Oliver leaves._

"Oh, there he is!" I exclaimed suddenly and started waving my hands. **_"Ollie! Ollie! Over here!"_**

As my friend approached us, I noted that he hadn't changed much. His playful grin was still the same, he still had his silly haircut, where half of his head was shaven, with a lock of thick auburn hair covering his left eye – he did that because his eyes were different colours - and he still wore his trademark silver chain around his neck. His skin was even darker than usual – I figured that since summer started, he had spent most of his time surfing. When he saw me, his grin became even wider and he ran to me. He dropped his bag to the ground and wrapped his arms around my torso, picking me up and spinning me around. I laughed.

**_"Ollie! I'm getting dizzy!"_ **

**_"Sorry, sorry!"_** He chuckled and put me down. He looked at the others curious. "Alright, so you're Angie's friends, I assume?" He asked them in slightly bad Japanese. They nodded. "Awesome. I'm Oliver Clark." He turned to me again and winked. **_"So that big guy over there's your boyfriend, huh? Impressive."_**

" ** _What?!"_** I blushed and tried to correct him immediately. **_"Nooo! Sousuke – the guy I'm dating – isn't here. This is Makoto and we're just friends."_** I glanced at the others. They all knew English, but thankfully it seemed like Oliver and I were speaking too quickly for them to be able to understand us. Makoto was frowning slightly though and looking at me questioningly – he had obviously heard me mention his name. How embarrassing …

" ** _Oh, sorry 'bout that!"_** Oliver laughed and ruffled my hair. **_"You said you were dating some big guy, I thought maybe this was him."_** He explained.

I sighed and covered my face with my hands. Ollie could be so empty-headed! He had been here less than five minutes and he had already embarrassed me! What was worse, I had a suspicion that this wouldn’t be the only instance when my best friend would embarrass me during his visit.

_Oh god, I hope I make it through …_

* * *

My friends walked me and Oliver to my home, but decided to leave so that Ollie could rest from his trip. They promised they'd visit us tomorrow and then we would show Oliver around Iwatobi.

" ** _Your friends seem nice."_** He said as he sat cross-legged on my bed ** _. "I'm glad you managed to find some new friends here. You're usually so shy."_**

" ** _Well, they actually found me."_** I said, chuckling softly and then told my friend how I had joined the swimming club. By the time I was finished, he was laughing loudly.

" ** _Oh, that's just like you! I bet you didn't even want to join, but you were too polite to say no."_**

I would have protested, but sadly, it was true. I didn't really feel like joining any sports club back then – I was not very good at sports. But Nagisa and the other were so nice - and insistent! - that I couldn't bring myself to disappoint them. So I had agreed. And now I didn't regret joining their little team at all.

" ** _I suppose you're right, Ollie. But you have to agree, it all turned out for the best, right?"_**

" ** _Yeah, I guess."_** He shrugged and then grinned at me. **_"So when are you gonna introduce me to your new beau?"_**

" ** _Soon. But you have to promise that you'll behave."_** I warned.

" ** _When have I not behaved?"_** He exclaimed wide-eyed, feigning innocence.

" ** _Don't get me started …"_** I sighed. **_"Please? Sousuke knows that you and I dated, and I think he might be a bit insecure, so please don't do anything weird, ok?"_**

" ** _Fine, I won't."_** Ollie replied, rolling his eyes. **_"What is that guy so nervous about? He's dated before, right?"_**

" ** _Actually, he hasn't. He told me that he's been too focused on swimming to date anyone."_** I replied.

" ** _What? Oh, Angie, that gives him more points in the relationship! Don't you know anything?!"_**

" ** _More … points?"_** I repeated. **_"Dating isn't a competition, you know? And how exactly does not having dated anyone earn you any points?"_**

" ** _But now he can say that he was saving himself for you and that will make him seem like the better person."_** Ollie insisted.

" ** _Yeah, if we were in the year 1750."_** I chuckled. **_"Ollie, it's fine, believe me."_**

" ** _Lord, you must really like this guy, huh? Your face lights up every time you mention him."_**

" ** _It does?"_** I asked, blushing lightly, and touched my cheek. **_"W-well … I guess I do like him a lot …"_** I lay down on the bed besides Ollie and hugged my pillow. **_"He's wonderful, you know…"_** I added, smiling dreamily.

" ** _More wonderful than me?"_** Oliver asked, chuckling. **_"I'm pretty amazing, after all!"_**

I chuckled, sitting up, and pinched my friend on the arm lightly. This was exactly the kind of behaviour I didn't want Sousuke to witness. I knew that after meeting Oliver, he'd probably be tempted to compare himself to my friend and those things never ended well. I just wanted my boyfriend and my best friend to get along, was that so much to ask for?

" ** _You're amazing, Ollie. But Sousuke's amazing too, in his own way."_** I said.

" ** _Well, I'll be the judge of that."_** He declared, crossing his arms in front of his chest and nodding. **_"I haven't approved of him yet, and I promised you that I'll always look out for you, remember?"_**

" ** _Oh, god, are you serious?"_** I sighed and covered my eyes with my hand. **_"You know that I don't need your approval to date anyone, right?"_**

" ** _Yeah, but it's important that your partner should get along with your friends well."_** Ollie said, lying down with his arms behind his head. **_"Does Sou-And-Sou get along with those swimmer friends of yours?"_**

" ** _Don't call him that!"_** I pouted. **_"And … well … he doesn't really talk to them. But he's not a very sociable person in the first place. He barely talks to his own teammates ..."_**

" ** _Damn … What do you see in that guy then?"_** He asked, looking amused. **_"I bet he must be boring as hell."_**

" ** _He's not!"_** I exclaimed. **_"Sousuke is really sweet and caring. I don't care that he doesn't like talking with people. He obviously likes talking to me, so that's enough."_** Pouting, I looked at my friend with a serious face. **_"You'll be nice to him, right?"_** I asked quietly.

" ** _Yeah, yeah … Don't worry, Angie. I'll play nice."_** He grinned.

I sighed relieved. I knew that Oliver had a knack for mischief, but I also knew that he'd never do anything to hurt the people close to him. Now I could only hope that Sousuke would behave as well.

* * *

Sousuke called me an hour after we had come home, subtly – in his own view – trying to find out if Oliver had arrived. For some reason, I had the feeling that Rin was somewhere near him and was listening to our conversation.

I offered to meet Sousuke and introduce him to Oliver and after some hesitation, he agreed to it. So, a couple of hours later, Oliver and I were at the train station near my house, waiting for my boyfriend to arrive. Sousuke was already a few minutes late, and I knew that he was **never** late. I was beginning to worry about him.

" ** _By the way, does Sou-And-Sou speak English?"_** Ollie asked me.

" ** _Not very well … "_** I replied.

" ** _So … when he comes, if I tell you something in English and then we both laugh, he'll think we're talking about him, right?"_** He snickered.

" ** _He probably will think just that, and that's why we won't do anything like it."_** I said firmly.

" ** _So, what, I'm gonna have to speak Japanese with my best friend just because his lover boy can't understand English?"_** He exclaimed.

" ** _Well, basically … yes."_** I sighed. **_"Please? Do it for me?"_**

" ** _Fine…"_** He rolled his eyes. **_"Boy, you weren't such a pain when you were dating me."_**

" ** _Maybe I was to others."_** I muttered, causing Oliver to chuckle. **_"Oh, there's Sousuke!"_** I exclaimed, seeing the tall figure that was approaching us. I ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Hiii!"

He was slightly taken aback, but he reacted quickly, wrapping his strong arms around me and giving me a little squeeze. Having my cheek pressed against his broad chest, I could feel his heart beating faster than normal. Before I could ask if he was feeling alright, Sousuke put a hand under my chin and kissed me softly on the lips. This took me by surprise, but then I noticed that he was glancing at Oliver. I sighed and shook my head.

"Are you seriously jealous?" I asked him, smiling softly.

"He's … better-looking than I expected." Sousuke admitted, looking a bit embarrassed.

I chuckled and took his hand, squeezing it lightly. He could be charmingly dense at times, couldn't he?

"You are such a child, Sousuke." I said teasingly. "You trust me, right? You know that I'd never do anything to hurt you."

"I do, really." He said quickly. "I just … I know it's unfair, but … I mean, I …" He fell silent when he saw Ollie approaching us.

"Right." I said. "So, Sousuke, this is Oliver, and Ollie, this is my boyfriend." I said cheerfully.

Oliver looked at Sousuke intently, raised an eyebrow at him, and then twisted his lips slightly, as if he was holding back laughter. He then leaned closer to me.

" ** _Aren't you scared that this behemoth is gonna crush your bones? How do you guys shag?"_** He whispered in my ear.

" ** _Ollie!"_** I blushed and pushed him away. Sousuke looked at me suspiciously and I sighed as I fished for a decent explanation. "He just said that you're much bigger than me."

"I see."

Sousuke was not convinced at all. He shot Oliver a cold glare and my friend looked at him with equal disdain. I shivered slightly, sensing that those two had already decided that they did not like each other.

_Oh, this is gonna end bad, isn't it?_


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, like in the previous chapter, whenever someone talks in English, their speech will be in bold and italics.

There was a soft knock on the door and before I could even answer, Oliver walked into my room. He saw me sitting on the bed and walked to me, sitting down as well. I frowned and turned my back to him. This made my friend sigh.

" ** _Are you gonna tell me why you're so pissy?"_** He asked.

" ** _You know very well why!"_** I said rather loudly. Ollie sighed again.

" ** _Oh, come on, Angie! I only teased your boyfriend a little!"_**

" ** _You insulted him! It was rude and Sousuke felt very awkward!"_** I insisted. **_"Why are you acting like this, Ollie? You're such a nice person and it seems like you're going out of your way to be mean to Sousuke… Don't you like him?"_**

" ** _No, not really."_** Came the surprisingly casual answer. I turned to look at him wide-eyed and he shrugged. **_"I know you wanted me to like him but I don't. He's too … weird."_**

" ** _Weird?"_** I repeated with a hollow voice. **_"How so?"_**

" ** _Yeah. He's always so quiet and he's just … boring. Honestly, why are you with him?"_**

" ** _You were insulting him, of course that he wouldn't talk to you."_** I tried to defend my boyfriend. **_"Ollie, I feel like you didn't even give Sousuke a chance. You came here already set on hating him, didn't you?"_**

" ** _I … yeah, I guess you're right."_** He readily admitted, nodding. **_"I think that he doesn't deserve you."_**

" ** _Excuse me?!"_**

" ** _You heard me. Angie, you're an amazing guy and you are too good for him."_** He raised a hand to silence me. ** _"I know what you're thinking now and no, I don't want us to get back together or anything like that. I'm speaking purely as your friend."_** Oliver looked at me with a serious expression on his face. **_"I think that this guy will hurt you."_**

" ** _Hurt me? How so?"_** I asked; my voice was shaking slightly.

" ** _I don't know! I just have this feeling …"_**

" ** _W-well … You're wrong. Sousuke would never intentionally hurt me. You don't know him! This guy suffered for months in silence because he didn't want anyone knowing about his shoulder! He's the most selfless person I know."_**

" ** _So he's a doormat. Do you really want someone like that by your side?"_**

" ** _Stop trying to find a flaw in him!"_** I pouted. **_"Maybe Sousuke isn't perfect, but nobody is, and besides, isn't it far more real when we accept someone's flaws as well? What's important is that he makes me happy, we care for each other and we like being in each other's company."_** I looked at Oliver quite upset. **_"I'm sorry that you don't like him. I really wanted you two to get along. But I'm not going to break up with him because of that. Do you understand?"_**

Not waiting for an answer, I stood up and left the room.

* * *

"Eh?" Rin blinked at me after opening the door. "Sousuke left twenty minutes ago."

"He did?!" I sighed, mentally cursing my bad luck. Just great … I came all the way to Samezuka and my boyfriend was not there! "Do you know where he went?"

"I think he went to get some fresh air. He'll probably be back soon." Rin said, stepping aside so that I could go into the room.

I had never been in Sousuke's and Rin's dorm room before. It was much smaller than I thought it would be, and I could imagine that it would seem even smaller with both Sousuke and Rin in it. I leaned on the desk, looking around with interest. The room was also much more organized than expected – there was not a thing out of place. This made me feel slightly ashamed of my own messy room.

"Which bunk does Sousuke sleep in?" I asked, nodding at the beds.

"The top one." Rin replied, making a face as he said it. "I offered to give him the bottom one when I found out about his shoulder, but he refused." He sighed and went to lie down on the bottom bunk.

"Yeah, he doesn't let me help him at all, he insists that he can do everything by himself." I smiled.

"Well, I mean, he should be like that with you, but he doesn't have to be so proud with me." Rin said, frowning.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, he can't just let himself look weak in front of his boyfriend, can he?" He turned to look at me, smirking. "What if you aren't attracted to him anymore?"

"Are you serious?" I pouted. "I don't care about Sousuke's shoulder! I mean, I do, I care about his well-being, of course, but that doesn't really affect my feelings for him. Or what, you think that I am attracted to someone based on the physical condition of their shoulders?" I chuckled.

Rin laughed along with me. I had to admit, I was at first a bit nervous – I had never actually been alone with him and I was feeling slightly intimidated by him. He looked kind of scary with those sharp teeth! It was a pleasant surprise to discover that I could actually have a friendly conversation with him.

"Anyway, I wanna talk with you before Sousuke comes back." He said, serious all of a sudden.

"Oh, really?" I asked quietly. I had a feeling that I knew what we were going to discuss. "What do you wanna talk about?"

"About that friend of yours." He frowned. "What is his problem? Why is he attacking Sousuke like this?"

"I don't know …" I sighed, looking down. "Oliver … he seems to think that Sousuke isn't good for me." I noticed Rin frowning even more. "Oh, but I don't agree with him at all! I actually … I came here because we sort of had a fight about that and I wanted to see Sousuke …" I wanted … no, I **needed** to see him really badly.

"He's going mad with worry, you know?" Rin said, sitting up so that he could look at me properly. "Even before your friend came here. He always kept saying that this guy was probably still in love with you, or that he'd make you break up with him." He sighed. "I tried my best to calm him down, but I couldn't help him much because he kept winding himself up, that idiot. And yesterday, when he came back from meeting you, he looked so broken. When I asked him if something had happened, he just said that it was over and didn't explain anything else."

"He said that it was over?!" I asked wide-eyed. "W-what does that mean … Does he think we're …?" I trailed off and looked at the other, sensing that I was about to burst into tears.

"I don't know … I don't think so … I mean, I tried to tell him not to decide these stuff on his own and to talk to you first …"

"Wait … Is that why he's not here? Is he going to my house now?" I asked slowly.

"Probably …" Rin replied; judging by the curious expression on his face, he was obviously wondering why I looked so scared. Then, it seemed to hit him. "Oh, crap! Tell me that your parents are home too!"

I shook my head. My dad had taken my mother to get some tests done and they would spend the night at the hospital. Only Oliver was at home. How very unfortunate …

"Come on." I said, jumping down from the desk. "We need to go."

* * *

Of course, it wasn't that easy to get to my house. We had to wait for a train to come – thankfully it arrived on time and we were able to catch it. We finally reached my home and I burst in like a clumsy dinosaur, followed by Rin.

" ** _Oliver!"_** I shouted.

" ** _Whaaat?"_**

I found him in the living room, lying on the sofa and flipping through the channels. He sat up as I entered the room and turned the TV off.

" ** _You know,"_** he began with a smile, **_"I'm kinda disappointed. I've heard so much about these crazy Japanese TV shows, but I couldn't find anything odd on TV."_** He noticed my expression and his smile faded. **_"What's wrong?"_**

" ** _Has Sousuke been here?"_**

" ** _Oh, yeah …"_** He looked down. **_"Your lover boy came round, we exchanged a few words and then he left."_**

" ** _Oh, god! What did you do?"_**

" ** _Nothing."_** Just then he noticed Rin. **_"Who's that guy?"_**

" ** _I'm Sousuke's best friend."_** He growled, looking at Oliver viciously.

" ** _Oh, he speaks English. Angie, you should date him. It would be much easier to talk to this guy!"_**

" ** _Ollie, where did Sousuke go?"_** I asked patiently.

" ** _Bugger if I know."_** He shrugged. **_"He left about 5 minutes ago, so you can still catch him. I think he was going to that park we went yesterday?"_**

" ** _Alright."_**

I darted off again, leaving Oliver and Rin behind. As I was running, I thought that maybe it hadn't been wise to do so, but at the moment my priority was finding Sousuke. I hoped that Oliver hadn't lied to me about where he was going. Finally I spotted him and ran even faster. I was out of breath and I couldn't call out his name, so I did what seemed to me the best action at the moment – I lunged forward, grabbed him by the left arm and just hung on to him, gasping for air.

"A-angel?"

Sousuke was undoubtedly startled. He stared at me wide –eyed and with a gaping mouth, making me feel silly for what I had done. I waved a hand at him, still breathing heavily. It took me a couple of minutes to regain composure.

"Alright … We need to talk." I winced at my own words. That was how every break-up talk started, wasn't it? "Sousuke … You're amazing. You know that, right?"

He nodded silently, his eyes full with worry. He opened his mouth to say something and I quickly put a finger on his lips to silence him.

"Please, listen to me. You're amazing, smart, kind and caring. That's why I **don't** want to break up with you."

"Oh." Was all he could say. "I thought …"

"I know what you thought." I interrupted him and smiled sadly. "Sousuke, how could you ever think that I'd break up with you because my best friend doesn't like you?"

"I don't know … I just …" He seemed very confused and flustered. "I just … thought you would be disappointed with me … I promised you that I'd get along with your friend." He finished quietly.

"I would have liked that, yes." I confirmed. "But you can't force these kinds of things, Sousuke. I'm not mad or disappointed." I hugged him tightly around the waist, rubbing my forehead against his chest. "Sousuke, I don't care whether you and Oliver like each other. I just … I just hope that you are at least civil to each other. That's all."

He let out a weird sound, kind of a mix between a sob and laughter, and then squeezed me tightly, kissing the top of my head. I could feel him smiling and couldn't help but smile too.

"I'm really serious about you." I heard Sousuke mutter into my hair. "And I'm so scared of messing everything up and losing you."

"I don't think you could ever mess up so badly." I said softly.

"It's happened before." He whispered. I flinched at the bitterness in his voice. "With my shoulder. I was doing the right thing … people always say that you should work hard to achieve your dreams. I worked hard … and it destroyed my dreams."

"I know." I said quietly. "But that's not your fault, Sousuke. You need to realize that." I looked up and kissed him on the lips softly.

"I just … I really feel like I don't deserve you …" He continued to mumble. I wasn't sure if he had even heard me.

"Sousuke … Did Oliver tell you something?" I asked slowly. I had never seen him look so distraught and helpless, not even when I had found out about his shoulder.

Sousuke hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. He was avoiding looking me in the eyes.

"He … I went to your house to see you. But you were out, and I ran into him … I didn't want to talk to him – I thought that it would be for the best if I tried to have as little as possible to do with him. But then he started talking and … he said some things …"

"What did he say?" I asked with a slightly trembling voice.

"He said that you're too good for me. Accused me of just "settling" being with you and how it wasn't fair to you, because you deserve someone who truly wants to be with you and hasn't chosen it as plan B."

"What?" I was confused. What was Sousuke talking about? Plan B?

I shook my head. Oliver had quite a sharp tongue, I knew that already, but I never imagined that he'd say something like that to Sousuke. Poor guy, no wonder that he looked so anxious …

"Sousuke, I told Oliver earlier today that I don't care what he thinks about you and about our relationship." I said softly. "I want to be with you. And I'm not really sure what you and Oliver mean by plan B, but I have no interest in knowing either." I looked him in the eyes. "Do you want to be with me?"

"Of course!" He replied immediately.

"I want to be with you too. So just … relax. Please?"

He looked at me and then, finally, he smiled. His tense shoulder slumped down slightly and he sighed in relief. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"So … everything is alright between us?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah." I nodded, taking him by the hand and tangling our fingers together. "Everything is just perfect."

_And if it's not, I'm gonna make it so._


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English speech is in bold and italics.

Buzz … Buzz … Buzz …

"Ugh …"

I opened my eyes and groaned lazily. My phone was silenced, but just the vibrations – which seemed amplified due to the fact that my phone was lying on the wooden nightstand - were making my head hurt. It felt like someone was poking my brain with a very sharp stick. I could tell that it was still pretty early in the morning, since the light that was coming from the windows had an unmistakable greyish hue to it. It was probably around 6 or 7. Who could be calling me at this hour?

"'S prob'ly tha' frien' o' yours …" Sousuke mumbled, barely awake. "Tell 'im to go to hell …"

I chuckled and carefully climbed over my boyfriend to get my phone. I blushed as our bodies touched – while I had had the decency to put my underwear back on before going to sleep, Sousuke had remained completely nude. Oh, well .. this was his bed, after all, he could wear – or in this particular case, **not** wear – whatever he wanted under the blanket.

I took my phone and looked at the screen. Sousuke had been correct – Oliver was calling me. Smiling lightly, I picked up.

" ** _What is it, Ollie?"_**

" ** _Just calling to remind you that it might be smart to come back home before your parents. You know, so that they wouldn't find out you weren't home all night."_**

" ** _Ah … right."_** I chuckled. **_"Sorry I didn't call you to say I won't be coming home. It was … kinda a spontaneous decision."_**

" ** _I know, I know."_** He laughed. **_"I'm a big boy, Angie, I know how these spontaneous things happen. Anyway, I hope the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant was gentle with you."_**

" ** _Don't call him that, Ollie!"_** I scolded my friend and he laughed again.

" ** _Oh come on, Angie, that was funny! And I have a million more of them. Hey, you know what the difference between your boyfriend and Bigfoot is?"_**

" ** _Ollie!"_**

" ** _Fine, fine … Sorry."_** He didn't sound sorry at all. **_"But he has big feet, doesn't he? You know what they say about guys with big feet, right?"_**

" ** _Yes - that they wear big shoes. Bye, Ollie!"_** I hung up quickly. Oliver could be so shameless sometimes!

I put my phone back on the night stand and was about to climb down from Sousuke when he wrapped his arms around me, holding me on top of him.

"What did that guy want?" He asked.

"He was just checking up on me." I replied, kissing him. "And you promised you'd be nice to him." I added, flicking his nose with my finger.

"Yes, but he's not here now, thankfully." He chuckled as he caressed my back gently. Then his hands slowly moved down to cup my backside and I winced quietly. He quickly let go. "Sorry … does it hurt a lot?" He asked quietly.

"It hurts more than I expected." I admitted. I could feel my lower back pulsating. "But I'll be fine."

Sousuke didn't say anything. He just shifted a bit so that I could lay more comfortably on him, whilst his hands rested on my hips.

"I'm really happy you agreed to stay the night." He murmured.

"I'm happy too." I smiled. "I hope your parents didn't hear us …"

Everything that had happened yesterday seemed so surrealistic right now, as if it had happened in a dream. Sousuke and I were just walking around aimlessly when he had suddenly invited me to his home. At first I thought that he just wanted us to spend some time together, but it turned out that his plan was to introduce me to his parents. I was kind of nervous at first, until I met them – it turned out that they were both very pleasant people. They weren't very surprised to meet me and later I learned that they already knew that their son was dating a guy.

Sousuke's father was a smart-looking middle-aged man with wrinkles around his eyes and mouth and graying hair. He had the same large physique as his son, but he was slightly shorter. Sousuke's mother was a petite woman, who looked even smaller when standing next to her husband and son. She apparently had a weakness for "cuteness", as Sousuke had warned me beforehand. I wasn't sure what that meant until after meeting the woman, when she, much to my and Sousuke's embarrassment, declared that her son couldn't have picked a cuter boyfriend and insisted that I stay for dinner. I actually had a really nice time talking to them.

Which was exactly why I didn't want them to ever learn what Sousuke and I had done the previous night!

"How could they have heard you? You were as quiet as a mouse." Sousuke chuckled.

"I …" I blushed brightly. "But we did make **some** noise, right? T-the bed was squeaking …"

"I still don't think they would have heard it." He replied thoughtfully. "But … well, I have a feeling they know."

"What?! How?"

"Think about it." He smirked. "Their 18-year-old son just spent the night with his boyfriend. I'm pretty sure they're aware of what we did."

I winced and curled up, pulling the covers over my head. How embarrassing! How could I ever look my boyfriend's parents in the eyes after this! I heard Sousuke chuckle and pouted, though of course, he couldn't see my face.

"I'm not leaving your room ever again!" I said.

"That's perfectly fine with me." He snuck under the covers to place a kiss on my forehead.

I smiled lightly. As I lay there, with my head on his bare chest, I could feel Sousuke's heart beating. The soft thumping against my cheek felt nice and comforting.

"I still can't believe we did it." I chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean … Yesterday was such a mess, don't you think? I have a fight with Oliver, then I go to Samezuka to see you but when I get there I find out you're actually on your way to see me, so I rush back home but you're not there … And then we meet but you think we're going to break up and then we …" I blushed. "… and then we make love …"

"Sounds kind of like a movie, right?" He smiled.

"Sounds like a very cheesy movie." I said, frowning. "If I were watching **that** movie, I'd have said that the characters are overreacting and that everything could have been solved by a simple phone call!"

He laughed a lot after I said that and I couldn't help but chuckle too. We had overreacted about this whole situation, hadn't we?

"I suppose you're right." Sousuke said after he had finally calmed down. "I realize now that I acted like an idiot, but yesterday … I don't know, I guess I was in such panic that I couldn't think clearly."

"Yeah, me too …" I nodded. "But I guess it's kinda nice how crazy we can get about this … it must mean that we care a lot about each other, right?"

He smiled and kissed me softly, cupping my face with both hands.

"Of course that we do." He said with a gentle voice. "You're the most important person to me … If I didn't have you … I …" He trailed off and shook his head.

"But you have me … So … No more sad thoughts?"

Sousuke smiled and kissed me again.

"No more sad thoughts." He said.

* * *

" ** _I can't believe you had sex with that guy …"_**

" ** _Well, he is my boyfriend, Ollie."_** I chuckled as I lay down on my stomach. My backside and thighs still hurt, but it wasn't really that nasty. A hot bath and a good night's rest and I'd be as good as new! **_"Now listen, can you stop being so mean to Sousuke? I mean, it's alright if you don't like him … but I just don't like it when you insult him right to my face. Or his, for that matter."_**

" ** _Fine, fine …"_** He sighed. **_"I guess you're right. I mean, I haven't really had a chance to see you guys together, and I know I have no right to tell you how to live your life … But you know I'm just looking out for you, right? Don't want my best mate to end up heartbroken."_**

" ** _Yeah, I know."_** I smiled. **_"But why do you think Sousuke will hurt me?"_**

For a moment Oliver looked startled, and then he looked away, mumbling something incoherent. Even if he was trying to hide his thoughts from me, there was no way I could have missed his sudden mood shift and I kept prying until he finally gave in.

" ** _You sure you want me to answer that?"_** He asked. **_"You seem like you haven't figured it out yet, and you'll hate me when I say it."_**

" ** _Figured out what?"_** I was beginning to grow worried. Oliver knew much more about relationships than I did, so if there was truly something amiss in my relationship with Sousuke, he'd be bound to notice it. **_"Ollie, please tell me. I want this relationship to work and I need to know about its flaws."_**

" ** _It's just … well … how much can you be sure that this guy truly wants to be with you?"_** He asked carefully.

" ** _Um … I think that it's pretty obvious. Sousuke cares for me and he's the one who was making more effort to start the relationship in the first place. Also – didn't you see what he looked like yesterday when he thought we were going to break up?"_** I had no idea why on Earth Oliver would have thought that Sousuke did not want to be with me. **_"Besides, why would he be with me if he didn't want to?"_**

" ** _Because he has nothing else."_** Oliver replied quickly and continued before I could interrupt him. **_"No, listen to me, Angie. You told me about how this guy wanted to be a swimmer but then something happened – I can't really remember what, I wasn't really paying attention – and now he can't be. And you two got together after that whole ordeal. So … is he just with you because he can't do what he really wants? Are you his plan B?"_**

I was stunned and couldn't utter a sound for a few minutes. It shocked me how Oliver could have thought such a thing and just mere **hours** after meeting my boyfriend at that! And he had said it like it was such an obvious thing … Did everyone think that? Was this the reason why Haru frowned every time I mentioned Sousuke?

No. I shook my head. I was starting to freak out and I needed to calm down. I shouldn't care what other people thought of my relationship, they weren't there when Sousuke and I were intimate, and they couldn't see how gentle and loving he truly was.

" ** _No."_** I finally said with a quiet voice. **_"Sousuke is not that kind of guy, Ollie. It's true that we got together after he gave up on his dream to become a pro swimmer, but that was because we met after that happened. If we had met before, I'm sure that we would have started dating earlier."_**

" ** _Are you really sure?"_** Oliver muttered under his breath.

" ** _And another thing,"_** I continued, ignoring his mumbling, **_"you say that I'm his plan B, but that's not true. It's called moving on and people do it all the time. You can't expect someone to do nothing with their life, especially when they've given up on their dream while still in high school!"_**

" ** _That's true."_** Oliver nodded. **_"But how about this – if asked, what would your boyfriend choose: to become a pro swimmer or to be with you?"_**

" ** _That's really unfair, Ollie. Why does this have to be a choice between the two? Why can't he have both?"_**

" ** _He can."_** My friend nodded. **_"But it's kinda important which thing he chooses, don't you think? Can you tell me honestly that you would be with a guy who chooses you second?”_**


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will the last one of the story.
> 
> As always, Angel and Ollie speak in English, so their speech will be in bold and italics.
> 
> Comments will be very appreciated. Enjoy!

I had to admit that Ollie’s words did make me feel a bit nervous. For a couple of days after our conversation I felt kind of dizzy, as if I were in a nightmare. However, by the end of the week I had thought about it enough to figure out that my friend didn’t really know what he was talking about. He didn’t know Sousuke at all – in fact, he had made it his mission not to become close with him – so he had no right making conclusions about my relationship. With my mind made up, I was finally able to relax again.

One morning, after I had just finished getting dressed, Ollie entered my room. He was still in his pyjamas – he always defended his choice of wearing them until late in the afternoon and even claimed that he’d go to the Queen in his sleepwear – and had obviously just woken up. He stopped and stared at me for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

**_“Woah, I’ve seen better bird nests!”_** He exclaimed while pointing at my bedhead.

I frowned at him and tried to fix my messy hair with one hand. Naturally, I didn’t succeed.

**_“Your hair didn’t use to get so shaggy when it was longer, did it?”_** Ollie asked. **_“Why did you cut it, by the way?”_**

**_“It just got too long.”_** I shrugged. **_“Besides, it’s easier to fit my hair into my swimming cap when there’s less of it.”_**

**_“Makes sense.”_** He remarked, smiling. **_“You know, I’ve always wondered why pro swimmers have these awful army buzz cuts. And now I know.”_**

**_“Your hair cut can also be considered a buzz cut.”_** I teased him.

**_“Shut up.”_** He said playfully, nudging me in the ribs.

We squabbled playfully for a while before Ollie suddenly snaked his arms around my torso, trying to lift me over his shoulder like he always did. I used to be quite helpless against his attacks. However, this time I managed to hold one of his wrists down and got out of his grasp. He snickered and tried to push me down on the bed. I quickly snuck behind him and tried to push him down as well.

We wrestled for a while until finally Ollie won by cheating. He tripped me and I fell face-first on the bed. Luckily, I was still holding onto him, so I managed to pull him down as well. We stayed still for several minutes, trying to catch our breath.

**_“Man … you sure … have got strong.”_** Ollie said, taking a deep breath. **_“It was much easier to beat you when you were a weakass.”_**

**_“Well, Ollie, I have been working out, training and swimming regularly for almost a whole year now.”_** I laughed and pinched him lightly. **_“That builds up strength, you know!”_**

Ollie smiled and started saying something, but at that time my phone rang and silenced him. I reached to my night stand and grabbed my phone. Looking at the screen, I saw that Nagisa was calling me.

**_“Sorry, I should take this.”_** I told Ollie before answering the call. “Yeah, Nagisa?”

“Ah, Angel-chan, we’re all going to Haru’s house to watch a movie! You wanna come? You can bring Ollie-chan too!”

“Oh … hold on.” I turned to Oliver. **_“You wanna go watch a movie with my friends?”_**

**_“Yeah, sure.”_** He shrugged.

**_“Ok.”_** I switched back to the phone conversation. “Nagisa, you still there? Ollie said that he’ll come.”

“Great! Rei-chan and me will wait for you at the train station in an hour, ok?”

“Okay. See you then. Bye.” I said and then hung up. Then, I looked at Oliver. He was lying on his back, whistling. **_“Hey … you like my friends, right?”_**

**_“Yeah, sure.”_** He nodded. ** _“They’re a nice bunch. Especially that big guy, Makoto.”_** He paused for a moment. I watched him play with his hair, smoothing it forward so that it covered his eye. **_“So … will that red-haired girl I met the other day come too?”_**

**_“Eh? Are you talking about Gou?”_** I was a bit surprised at first – after all, when Ollie was introduced to Gou, he hardly spoke to her. Then I laughed. **_“Gods, Ollie, you just can’t go two weeks without getting a crush, can you?”_**

**_“Can’t help it. I have fire in my blood.”_** He grinned. **_“Plus, she is really cute.”_**

**_“Well, good luck. Just remember that you’ll have her brother to deal with.”_** When Ollie looked at me confused, I had to explain it to him. **_“You’ve met him. Rin. He’s Sousuke’s best friend.”_** I sighed, seeing that clearly Oliver could not remember him. **_“You met him the other day. He has red hair just like Gou.”_**

**_“Ohhh, right! The only one who speaks English well.”_** Ollie nodded. **_“You should date him. At least-”_**

**_“Yeah, I know. You said that already.”_** I sighed. **_“Anyway, you should go get dressed. We have to leave in an hour.”_**

Ollie grunted lazily, but eventually he got up and went to his room to change.

Two hours later we had all gathered around the television set in Haru’s living room. Since Nagisa had been the one to pick what movie we should watch, terrified screaming often came from the TV.

Who knew that someone who was so child-like would enjoy gory horror flicks …

**_“Man, that’s really fucked up!”_** Oliver whispered to me while his eyes were still glued to the screen.

**_“Yeah …”_** I nodded, looking at him slightly concerned. I knew that my friend had never been fond of horror movies. **_“You ok?”_**

**_“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”_ **

“Hush you two!” Nagisa scolded us. “You’re missing the best part!”

Oliver and I quieted down, but the silence didn’t last too long. Not a minute had passed when my phone buzzed and when I checked it, I found out I had received a message from Sousuke.

“I think Angel-chan just got a message from Sou-chan.” Nagisa remarked with a sly grin. “Look at how big his smile is!”

I blushed.

“He just wants to check up on me.” I muttered, putting my phone away.

“You should have invited him to come.” Makoto said. “We asked Rin over too, but he said he was busy.”

“Sousuke was also busy. They are helping with setting up the cultural festival.”

**_“Did you say something about a celebration?”_** Oliver joined in. His Japanese wasn’t very good, so he avoided speaking it when possible, even though I kept pointing out to him that he could use some practice.

**_“A cultural festival, Ollie.”_** I corrected him. ** _“Apparently Samezuka Academy holds one every year. We’re all planning to go and I was hoping that you’d come too.”_**

**_“Yeah, sure. Sounds fun.”_** He nodded. I had a feeling that he was expecting something more of me, because he kept staring at me with a strange look on his face. **_“So, you and your beefcake of a lover haven’t seen each other in a while, huh?”_**

**_“Well, no. As I said, he has been busy.”_** I replied.

**_“Hmm …”_ **

Oliver fell silent, turning his attention back to the screen. I knew why he was asking about that – I had avoided mentioning Sousuke and our relationship to him, because I didn’t really want to have another awkward conversation. And since Sousuke was busy with schoolwork and his physical therapy, and now with this school festival, we hadn’t had a chance to meet in a long time. I was starting to miss him a lot and I yearned to see him again.

Sighing, I put my phone away and turned my attention back to the TV.

* * *

Two days later Ollie and I were in the kitchen when my phone rang. I saw that Sousuke was calling me and left the room before answering the call – Ollie tended to get a little bit curious and I didn’t want him eavesdropping.

“Hi, Sousuke.”

“Hi. Um … are you doing anything right now?”

“Nothing special.” I replied. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m at the station near your place.”

“Oh, really? Well, just wait there, I’m coming right away!” I exclaimed, happy that I was finally going to hug and kiss Sousuke again.

“Alright.” He said and hung up.

I didn’t want to lose another second. I just shouted at Ollie that I was leaving for a bit while I was tying on my shoes and then ran out of the house. I jogged the short distance to the train station and threw myself into Sousuke’s arms, knocking the package that he was holding to the ground.

“Oh! Sorry! I just … I haven’t seen you in so long!” I apologized.

“It’s alright.” He smiled and then bent down to pick the package up. Straightening up, he caught my questioning gaze. “It’s an outfit for the festival. Our club is doing a café and Rin and I will be hosts, so we needed proper uniforms.”

“Really? That sounds nice, I can’t wait to see you in action.” I smiled.

He blinked at me a few times and then blushed. Looking away, he muttered something.

“Oh, hush!” I chuckled, pinching him. “I wanna see my boyfriend in a nice suit, is that so bad!”

“Guess not …” He mumbled, looking at the ground. “How … how’s that friend of yours doing?”

“Oliver? He’s doing fine. I think he might have a crush on Gou.” I replied. Ollie, Gou and I had gone to the movies the previous day. I had finally understood what it felt like being a third wheel – Ollie had ignored me for most of the time. He had apologized afterwards, of course, but I still felt a bit hurt. “But I don’t think she sees him as anything more than ‘Angel’s chatty friend’, I’m afraid.” I added, chuckling.

“It’s probably for the best. Rin already doesn’t like him.” Sousuke said and I nodded in agreement. “Has he … said anything about me?”

“Mm? A-ah … not for a few days …” I muttered, blushing a bit. “He just wanted to know if you and I had met since … well … since **that** day.”

“I see.” He fell silent for a minute. My smile suddenly faded. Something was off today, I could feel it. Sousuke obviously had something on his mind, but for some reason he either didn’t want to tell me, or couldn’t. Just as I was wondering how to ask him about it, he spoke up again. “We … we really haven’t seen each other in a while, huh?”

“Well… we’ve both been busy, you know?” I replied.

“Right, right. But … we used to be busy before too and we still made time for each other.”

I looked at Sousuke and felt something in my gut tighten. Biting my lower lip, I racked my brain trying to figure out what he wanted to say.

“Well … since Ollie is still staying with me, I figured that you just don’t really want to get together with him…” I guessed.

“I suppose that’s also true … But … there’s more.”

“Tell me then.” My throat was unbelievably tight and dry.

“When I came to your house the other day, I … we had a talk. With your friend. He said something.”

“W-what was it?”

“He told me … well, actually, he said a lot of things. Most of them were … well, I couldn’t really understand him.” He scratched the back of his head, looking a bit confused. “But what I could understand was … that he thinks I’m not taking our relationship seriously. He thinks that … that I’m just with you because I can’t have what I really want.”

“He told me the same thing.” I said. I kept my voice quiet so that it wouldn’t show how much it was shaking. “And … I think that’s so stupid. He doesn’t know you so well, he hasn’t really seen into our relationship, and to be honest, he hasn’t seen me in a year, and I’m not the same guy that I was back then. Ollie thinks the best for me, but I think that he’s just … he’s wrong.”

“So you ... you’re saying …” Sousuke began. He was speaking slowly, as if each word hurt him. “You’re saying that you’re not curious about it. I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently: what would I choose – you, or swimming?”

“This didn’t even cross my mind.” I shook my head in confusion. “And why would it? That whole question is utterly pointless, because there’s no right answer. If you choose me, I’d feel terribly guilty for you having to give up on swimming because of me. But if you choose swimming … well, then I’d feel bad that you didn’t choose me. I want to be more important to you than swimming, but I don’t want to be so important that you’d give it up for me.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Sousuke’s words were strained, like he was doing everything he could not to cry, but I could hear the faint chuckle in his voice.

“I know.” I said, giving him a weak smile. “Why do you need to choose, anyway? Why can’t you say that you want both?”

“Because I can’t have swimming anymore.” He replied and forced himself to smile as well. “And I just … want to figure things out for myself. I want to know how I feel about you.” He grabbed my shoulders and gave them a light squeeze. “Please try to understand, Angel. I want this … I want **us** to be real.”

“We are real, Sousuke.” I retorted, placing my hands over his while he was squeezing my shoulders. “You don’t need to prove anything to me.”

He shook his head and let me go. Turning away from me, he started kicking at the ground in desperation.

“I’m not so sure anymore. What your friend told me … It makes a lot of sense.”

“No it doesn’t!” I exclaimed. “If he were right … If you just wanted someone to be with now that you’ve given up swimming, you wouldn’t have waited two years after wrecking your shoulder, would you? You would have just found someone back in Tokyo.”

“I don’t know …” He muttered.

“I’m sure that’s what you would have done.” I insisted. “I don’t claim to know everything about you, Sousuke, but I’d like to think that I know you pretty well. I don’t think that you’re capable of even subconsciously faking your way through a relationship. I **know** that what you and I have is real.”

During the past five minutes, Sousuke had his gaze fixed on the ground, but suddenly he looked up at me.

“You do realize” he began with a quiet voice, “that if it weren’t for my injury, we wouldn’t be together, don’t you?”

“I …” I hesitated. “What do you mean?”

“If I had never wrecked my shoulder … I would have stayed in Tokyo.” He whispered. “I wouldn’t have transferred to Samezuka and I never would have fallen in love with you, so … you could say that we are together because of my shoulder.”

“Ok, but … that’s different!” I exclaimed. “Using the same logic, I could say that we are together because my dad is a doctor! If he didn’t come to work here, we would have stayed back in Wales.” I sighed. “It’s easy to look back in retrospect and say ‘oh, if only I had done this or that … then it would or wouldn’t have happened’ but it’s not like that in reality! It’s like saying … like … saying that …” My voice was trailing off as the recollection of what had just been said hit me. “Did you just say you love me?”

Sousuke turned his head to look at me, puzzled for a moment. Then, when he realized what he had done, his eyes widened and he quickly clasped a hand over his mouth.

“Shit …”

He was blushing now and I could feel my own cheeks starting to heat up as well.

“I … that wasn’t supposed to happen.” His voice came out a bit muffled.

“So you didn’t mean it?”

“No! I did. I do. I just … that wasn’t how I planned to say it.”

“Oh … you were actually planning on how to say it?” I asked. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I thought that these things should always be romantic and spontaneous.”

“It **was** going to be romantic.” Sousuke insisted. “I … I already screwed up everything else – our first date, our first kiss … I wanted to make at least one thing with you right. And I messed that up too. ” He finished, looking down.

“You’ve never screwed up with me.” I retorted, trying to cheer him up. “Look … maybe things didn’t always go like they would in a … say, a romance film … but I’m fine with that. Besides, we **are** together and … well, that must mean that you’ve done **something** right.”

“That’s not what I meant, though.” He replied. “You deserve someone who can be gentle and romantic. I can’t do that …”

I sighed, having grown tired of the direction this conversation was going.

“Sousuke, can you please stop searching for flaws in you and our relationship?” I felt bad for being so curt with him, but I felt like I needed to make this point. “Listen, no relationship is perfect. That’s impossible. I’m sure that we have flaws that we need to work on. However, you just settling down for me is not one of them, do you understand?” While I was talking, Sousuke was just staring at me with a slightly open mouth. All he could muster was a small nod, but that was enough for me. I smiled. “I love you too, Sousuke.”

His breath caught in his throat after I said those last words. Then he broke into a wide grin. He laughed and pulled me in for a tight hug, and then started to kiss me all over the face. He was so relieved, so wildly jubilant that I was concerned that he might actually go a little bit insane.

I was smiling and laughing too. Even though we still had some things to figure out, one thing was now certain – we loved each other. And at that moment, that was all that mattered.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updated this thing! I feel so accomplished now.
> 
> The epilogue will be in a separate chapter, so look forward to that!
> 
> Also, English speech is in bold and italics.

“Aaahhh, Ai-chan, you look so cute!” Nagisa exclaimed. He started circling the flustered student, poking at the maid’s uniform that the other was wearing, obviously deaf to Nitori’s pleas.

While all this was going on, I just stood there, quite surprised. When Sousuke had told me that they would wear uniforms for the festival, I had thought that he had simply had a formal suit in mind. But as I watched Nitori bounce around in this frilly clothing, I couldn’t help but picture Sousuke dressed in a similar attire. I had to admit, the image in my head was a bit silly, as I couldn’t imagine someone as huge and masculine as him clad in something so undeniably girly.

While I was daydreaming about my boyfriend, the others were already walking to the maid café, led by Nitori. Only Rei stayed behind and tugged my sleeve.

“Are you coming, Angel-kun?” He asked.

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” I replied blushing. “Sorry … I was thinking about something.”

I was glad that he didn’t ask any further questions. Shaking the embarrassing thoughts off, I quickly followed my friends. As we were walking, Nagisa turned around and went to Rei, leaning closer and whispering something to him. Rei flushed and shook his head. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but I had a faint idea. Nagisa probably wanted us to do a maid café as well. I had to agree with Rei on this one, there was no way I was putting on a dress!

The maid café turned to be … well, quite odd. I had never been to one before, so I wasn’t sure if all of them were like that or if the Samezuka guys were just really bad at running a café. The swimmers looked very unnatural in their maid dresses, and the doll-like make-up that some of them were wearing was a bit unsettling. Nitori was the only one who looked relaxed in his attire and who fit in the café’s atmosphere. I couldn’t help but wonder if he actually enjoyed wearing such clothes.

Rin came to greet us. He was wearing a suit, much to Nagisa’s mild disappointment, and was playing the role of a host quite amicably, although his posture was a bit too stiff. I looked around for Sousuke, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Hey, where’s Sousuke?” I asked. “I thought he was going to be a host too.”

“He said he didn’t want to be a host.” Rin replied, shrugging. “So I put him on kitchen duty.”

I remembered that Sousuke had been having doubts whether he could manage being a host, so I wasn’t entirely surprised that he had chosen a task that wouldn’t require him to socialise with the customers. Still, I was a bit disappointed.

“Can I at least see him?” I asked.

“Sure.” He grinned and motioned to the dark curtain that apparently separated the room into a café area and a kitchen area. “He’s over there.” Then his grin faded a bit and he waved a gloved finger at me. “Just don’t let me catch you doing **that** again.” He warned.

“Ok, I won’t let you **catch** us.” I replied innocently, before walking to the kitchen.

I pushed the curtain aside and peeked in. There were about half a dozen people there, cooking. I guessed that they were swim club members who didn’t want to wear maid dresses, since they were all dressed in suits. I quickly spotted Sousuke. It wasn’t that hard, really, he was the tallest person in the room and he seemed to be the one in charge. He was holding a frying pan and was stirring it. It looked so professional that I even felt a bit guilty of thinking Sousuke couldn’t cook.

Still smiling, I approached him.

“This smells really tasty!” I told him. “But weren’t you going to be a host?”

He turned to look at me a bit surprised.

“Did Rin let you in here?” He asked and I nodded. He sighed and shook his head. “I told Rin that I didn’t want to be a host and he put me in charge of cooking. I have to admit, I like it.”

“Yeah, you see-m to be pretty skilled at it.” I smiled. “I didn’t know you can cook.”

“It’s not really that hard.” He shrugged. “You just have to follow the instructions given, that’s all.” He scooped some of the food in a spoon and turned to me. “Here, try some.”

I obediently opened my mouth. The food was a bit too spicy and hot for my taste, but it was still delicious. Chewing slowly, I noticed that Sousuke was watching me with a somewhat tense expression and smiled at him.

“It’s really delicious. You should cook for me sometimes.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.” He smiled at me. “So you’re here with the others?”

“Yeah. Even Ollie’s here.” I noticed that Sousuke frowned at that. “Oh, don’t worry. Gou wandered off somewhere and he followed her. I don’t think you’re going to see him today.”

“That’s good.”

I chuckled and pecked Sousuke on the cheek.

“You know, you will have to learn to like him eventually. He’s my best friend, Sousuke, so we’ll see him quite often.”

He didn’t say anything for a few minutes. He stirred the pan again and after tasting the food, he removed it from the cooker.

“I know that he’s your friend.” He spoke. “But … the guy’s just really annoying. Why does he pick on me all the time?”

“Because that’s how he makes friends. He used to do to that to me too when we were kids.”

“And you still became friends?!” He looked at me in shock.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Look, Ollie may be a bit immature, but he’s a good person. I can always count on him. But anyway, I didn’t come here to discuss Ollie.” I added, stepping closer to him and wrapping my arms around his waist. “I came here to see my handsome boyfriend.”

“Did you now?” He chuckled softly, placing a hand on my lower back. “Actually … I think it’s about time for my break … How about we head to the dorms?” With everyone busy with the festival, the dorms would be empty.

“Mmm, very tempting.” I giggled. “But I kinda promised Rin that we’d behave today.”

“Rin will never know, he’s too busy playing host.” Sousuke smirked.

Before I could reply, he captured my lips in a kiss while his hands guided me to the curtain. I obediently complied, but we hadn’t even moved a few steps when we bumped into someone. I turned around, ready to apologize but then I saw that it was Rin. He didn’t look very happy with us.

“What the hell did I tell you?” He barked.

“Uh … we weren’t doing anything wrong…” I mumbled, feeling like some student that had been caught sneaking out of class. “We were just going to come to you guys! Right, Sousuke?”

“Of course.” He nodded promptly.

Rin looked at us suspiciously; it was obvious he didn’t believe us. Then he just turned and walked into the changing rooms.

Sousuke sighed.

“I better go get changed too … Rin can be a real pain …” He muttered.

“Ok … I’ll go back to the others, I guess.” I mumbled. I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed though. I reached out to pinch Sousuke on the arm. “You owe me one.”

He turned to look at me a bit confused. Then he smirked and leaned closer to give me a chaste kiss.

“I will make it up to you.” He murmured against my lips.

I returned to my friends. They were sitting at a table, with Nitori and Momotarou fussing around them. When he saw me, Momo shrieked and ran to me.

“Angel-kun!” He exclaimed, taking my hands.

“Uh … hi, Momo …” I mumbled. I liked Momotarou, but he was kind of annoying most of the time. Also, I had a hard time forgetting a very unfortunate beetle hunt with him and Nitori that I blamed on him entirely.

“Angel-kuuun, don’t look at me. I look ridiculous with this dress!” The ginger wailed, turning around and covering his face with his hands.

“Uh … ok?” I glanced at Nitori, who just waved his hands around helplessly. Walking carefully past Momo, I went to sit down next to Haru. “So what are we going to do now?”

“We’re waiting for Rin.”

“Oh, ok.”

I drummed my fingers on the table as I looked around. The café seemed to be very popular, and most of the customers were female, from what I could see.

“So this thing happens every year?” I asked.

“That’s right.” Nitori nodded. “The swim club organises the maid café every year for the culture festival!”

“Ah, so … you always have to wear that?” I gestured to the maid uniform.

Nitori nodded and went into a small speech about how important these uniforms were and why the Samezuka swim club wore them every year. His speech was interrupted by Momo’s complaining.

“There’s nothing good about these dresses. All the girls that see me in this will never want to date me!”

“That’s a real tragedy …”

My words were supposed to be sarcastic, but Momo obviously missed that. He lunged at me again, taking my hands and squeezing them.

“You’re so right, Angel-kun!” He said. “Look at all the cute girls here! They all laughed when they saw me! This is such a disaster, wahhh…”

“Momo! Quit your bitching already!”

Rin had arrived, with Sousuke trailing behind him. Both boys were dressed in their school uniforms. Sousuke went to me and gave a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Ah, Sou-chan!” Nagisa chirped. I knew that he, being the friendly person that he was, had wanted to get to know Sousuke for a long time.

Upon hearing the nickname he had been given, Sousuke stuttered, repeating it in a confused tone. I chuckled and bit my lips to prevent myself from bursting in fits of laughter. Rin turned to me and I saw that he was equally amused by the situation. We exchanged a look of mutual understanding: what a perfect opportunity to tease Sousuke!

“Is there something wrong, Sou-chan?” I asked in my sweetest voice.

He scowled at me, while Rin snorted with laughter.

“Hey, Sou-chan, don’t pout!” He teased, slapping Sousuke on the back.

“You two …” Sousuke growled before shaking his head helplessly.

I laughed and stood up to hug him. It was fun teasing my boyfriend with a silly nickname, but I didn’t want to overdo it. I would hate myself if I ever made Sousuke upset. He sighed and wrapped an arm around me. He was still frowning, I could see, but his touch was gentle and so I knew that he wasn’t upset with me. I smiled and nuzzled into him, enjoying his warmth. I slid my fingers along his arm, caressing his bicep. Normally I wasn’t one to focus on appearance, but I loved admiring Sousuke’s impressive physique.

“Come on.”

“Hm?” I looked up and noticed that the rest had started walking to the café’s exit. “Oh? What about the café?”

“We’ve already finished our shifts.” Sousuke explained, pushing me forward lightly. We had already fallen behind everyone else. “Rin wants to show your friends around.”

“Oh, okay! We didn’t have enough time to look around before coming here.” I smiled, hurrying after Nagisa and Rei. “Also … they’re your friends too, you know.”

“Ah … right.” Sousuke was looking at his shoes and I was certain that he didn’t agree with me.

“They like you.” I said. “Rin’s told them a lot about you, I tell them a lot too…”

“What have you told them about me?” This time I was certain: Sousuke sounded worried. I wondered why; did he actually think that I had badmouthed about him?

“Well, I told them how well you treat me, how much your personality changes when you’re with someone you’re comfortable with, and how you’re not as scary as you try to be.”

“I try to be scary?” He chuckled.

“Well, you come off as so intimidating that it looks like you’re making a conscious effort to look like that.” I shrugged.

“I see… have I ever scared you?”

“Hm …” I had to think about that. “No … I don’t think so… I mean, the only time I can remember is feeling scared during the relay. But I was scared **for** you then, not by you.”

“I see.” He repeated. He seemed like he wanted to say something else, but at that moment Rin shouted at us to hurry.

When we went to them, I saw that they had stopped by a booth because Nagisa was buying some pastries. They didn’t really look appetizing to me, but I knew that Nagisa, despite his small size, was quite the glutton. I had often heard Gou and her friends complain jealously about him being able to eat without gaining any weight.

“Sou-chan, here!” Nagisa split one of the pastries in two, offering one half to Sousuke.

“No way.” Sousuke replied curtly.

Nagisa deflated a bit. I guessed that he wasn’t used to people rejecting him so abruptly – usually his cheerfulness and friendliness was contagious and even Haru had a hard time resisting it.

Just as I started worrying that Nagisa’s dampened mood could make this outing slightly awkward, Nagisa suddenly looked up, his smile back on his lips.

“It’s ok, then! If Sou-chan doesn’t want it, I’ll just give it to Angel-chan!” He announced, turning to me and bringing the pastry to my mouth. I was so startled by the sudden shift that I couldn’t retaliate. It didn’t taste as bad as I feared it would.

“Ugh, fine, give it to me…” Sousuke said suddenly, grabbing the pastry from Nagisa’s hand. “Thanks …”

Nagisa giggled and clapped his hands, his face nothing less of victorious. If my mouth wasn’t filled with shark fin dumplings, I would have chuckled at the whole situation. Rin and Makoto seemed amused as well, I noticed. Rei, on the other hand, was frowning at Nagisa slightly. Maybe he didn’t approve of such sly methods to make friends?

“You do realize that you played right into Nagisa’s hands, right?” I asked Sousuke.

“Yeah …” He sighed.

“It’s okay, he does that with everyone. Don’t underestimate Nagisa, he is quite the puppet master.” I chuckled.

“I think that Yamazaki-kun will quickly get used to Nagisa’s tricks.” Makoto joined in, smiling.

“You don’t need to be so formal with me.” Sousuke said, rubbing his neck. He looked slightly uncomfortable as he said those words and I recalled that he had told me something similar a few times before as well. “Just Sousuke would do.”

“Alright then. You can call me Makoto too. And- oh, Haru, what is it?”

Haru had taken a few steps forward, standing between me and Makoto, staring off somewhere. Nagisa was the first to realize what he was looking at. His eyes sparkled and he ran forward.

“Hey, look!”

We all followed him to a table with water guns lying on it which appeared to be for some game. I took one to examine it closely. I could vaguely remember playing with similar toys when I was a kid.

“Let’s sign up for the next game!” Nagisa suggested eagerly.

“Sure, that sounds fun!” Rin exclaimed. He turned to Sousuke and me. “You guys are gonna play too, right?”

“We need to split in teams to play it.” Rei said, pointing to a board that had the rules of the game on it. “Iwatobi versus Samezuka?” He proposed, turning to the rest of us.

“Aw… that doesn’t sound fun at all.” Nagisa pouted. “How about we mix things up a bit, hm?”

“We’re an uneven amount of people, though.” I pointed out. “One team will have an extra person.”

“That’s true.” Makoto said. “How about I sit this one out?”

“You don’t want to play?” Haru asked, turning to him. For a second I thought that I sensed panic in his voice, but I dismissed it, seeing as Haru’s face remained as blank as always.

“Don’t worry, Makoto, I don’t really want to play.” I said smiling. “I’m really bad at these games, so I’ll put my team at a big disadvantage.”

“What will you do then?” Sousuke asked me with clear worry in his voice.

“I think I’ll just walk around and look at all the booths. Maybe I’ll look for Gou and Ollie.” I replied, smiling at him. “You guys have fun with your game.”

“Wait, are you sure …”

“Sousuke, I’m certain. I want you to have fun.”

I really didn’t mind it. At this point Sousuke and I saw each other on a daily basis, plus, I didn’t intend on behaving like some needy boyfriend that wouldn’t let Sousuke have his own life.

“The game is just for an hour anyway.” I added. “I can look after myself for that long, Sousuke.”

“I know you can, but-”

“Then it’s settled.” I quickly interrupted him. “I’ll be fine, Sousuke.”

He still looked unconvinced, but Rin slapped him on the back lightly.

“You heard the man!” He said, grinning at me. “Or what, you think you can’t play without your wife holding your hand?”

I pouted at his words. While I appreciated that he was on my side in this little argument, I didn’t like being called a wife. I may be shorter than Sousuke, but I certainly didn’t feel like a girl in our relationship!

Rin’s mocking seemed to have pushed the right button, though, because Sousuke threw him a deadly glare.

“If we’re in opposing teams, I’m taking you down!” He said. Then he turned to me and continued with a softer voice. “We’ll meet up after the game, ok?”

“Yeah, sure.” I smiled and nodded. Then I took a step forward to give Sousuke a quick peck on the lips. “Have fun, you guys! And **please** remember that it’s just a game!” I added, catching sight of Rin’s vicious grin.

* * *

Despite my boasting that I would be perfectly fine, deep down I felt quite bored. I couldn’t find Gou and Ollie, so I was left to wander the campus alone. And while some of the festival booths were interesting and pretty to look at, it was no fun when I was looking at them all by myself.

_I should have asked to play with them …_

I was sure that I’d probably be the first to get hit and leave the game, but at least it would more exciting that walking around aimlessly. So far the most exciting thing that I saw was a bird snatching a pastry from a little kid’s hand.

_This isn’t really how I thought I’d spent the day …_

I soon grew bored of looking at stalls that inevitably had some variation of the word shark written somewhere on them and left the festival area to look around the rest of the academy. I hadn’t had the opportunity to explore the school before, not even during our joint practices here.

_Woah, this place is really huge! I bet Sousuke got lost here so many times …_

I giggled to myself. Sousuke was phenomenal at getting lost! He was even worse than me and I found that so amusing because he usually put up such a stoic front, as if he always knew everything. Our first date was basically us wandering around the streets for a few hours with no idea of where we were supposed to go. It was one of the best days of my life so far.

**_“Ollie?!”_ **

I stared ahead in dumb shock. I had assumed that the rooms here would be empty, so it wouldn’t hurt to go in a few of them, but it turned out that there were two people inside this particular room. When I saw who they were – and what they were doing – I froze in one place, unable to contain my startled yelp.

My best friend – the same one who had just an hour ago been fawning over a girl – was now in the arms of none other than Kisumi. The whole situation was just so shocking that I couldn’t fully grasp what was going on. It seemed that by entering the room, I had just interrupted a very intimate moment.

 ** _“Geez, Angie … Stop looking like a mounted fish.”_** Oliver scolded me.

 ** _“S-sorry! I just … uh … What’s going on here?”_** I asked helplessly.

 ** _“Well, Gou was adamant on checking out that muscle contest and I wasn’t really up to hanging around and having other guys be the centre of her attention. So I left to look for you.”_** That made sense to me. Oliver didn’t like it when people ignored him, so it wasn’t surprising that he had abandoned Gou and searched for someone more receptive to his charms. **_“So then I see what’s-his-face and he’s with this bloke here and we start talking and suddenly the guy says “kiss me” and … I did just that.”_** He finished with a grin.

I sighed.

**_“Ollie, I think he was just introducing himself …”_ **

**_“Oh, no, I really did say that.”_** Kisumi chimed in with a cheerful voice.

 ** _“Oh.”_** I blinked. **_“Well … uh … I’ll leave you to … uh … whatever you were doing … Why are you wet, by the way?”_**

At my question, Kisumi let out a pathetic whine. Letting go of Ollie, he stepped towards me and grabbed my hands. He gave them a tight squeeze.

 ** _“Angeeeel …”_** He moaned, acting quite childishly. **_“Sousuke did something very mean to meee! He used me as a human shield against Makoto!”_**

 ** _“Oh, so he’s still in the game? That’s kinda impressive.”_** I smiled, feeling proud of my boyfriend’s physical prowess.

Kisumi didn’t say anything and just looked at me heartbroken.

 ** _“Angie, that’s really cold!”_** Oliver scolded me. **_“Show poor Kisumi some sympathy.”_**

 ** _“It seems like he’s getting more than enough sympathy already.”_** I replied, laughing. **_“Alright, I’m off to look for Sousuke. You two … enjoy your time, I guess …”_**

And with that I left. Truth be told, I was feeling a bit embarrassed and annoyed by Ollie’s behaviour. He could practice some restraint! After all, he came to Japan to see me, not to have a fling. And what would people say if they found out?

Shaking my head, I turned around the corner and was suddenly met with a geyser of water. I couldn’t react on time, so I swallowed a lot of it. Coughing and choking, I wondered what was going on.

“Oh, shit!” Someone exclaimed.

I rubbed my eyes. After I had managed to get the water out of them, I saw Rin. He was standing in front of me, clutching a water gun. He was looking at me in annoyance, which seemed rather unfair to me – after all, I was the one soaked to the bone. I hoped that my phone would survive this.

“Shit…” He repeated. “This is the second time it happens!” He glared at me. “What are you doing walking around anyways?”

“I was looking for Sousuke.” I explained, frowning at Rin. “Besides, it’s not against the rules just wander around, is it?”

“Hm …” Rin breathed loudly through his nose. “Sousuke might be lost somewhere.” He said, clicking his tongue. “But I’ll find him! He won’t escape me.” He added, grinning wickedly.

“Maybe he’ll get you instead.” I said, smiling innocently.

“Nah …” Rin frowned at my words. “I won’t lose to him!”

“You sure?” I said, looking somewhere above the other’s shoulder.

Rin promptly turned around, shooting water at the empty hallway behind him. I chuckled: I couldn’t believe that I had managed to trick him with something so silly and clichéd! Rin glared at me. He probably would have doused me with water again if he hadn’t emptied his gun just moments ago.

“Damn …” Rin cursed annoyed. “Now I gotta go recharge …”

I laughed. Rin and the others were taking all of this so seriously! It was just a silly game, after all.

“Anyway …” He continued, readying his gun. The action seemed like something he had taken out of a film and probably would have looked impressive if I didn’t know that he had no “ammo” left. “I can’t stand here chatting with you. I gotta win this.” He flashed me a toothy grin. “Prepare to comfort your boyfriend, he’s kinda a sour loser.”

He burst out laughing but quickly stopped, apparently realizing that the loud sound might attract unwanted attention. Then he nodded at me and left. I watched him creep along the corridor, staying close to the walls, and shook my head.

_He must think he’s in a video game._

I decided to give up on finding Sousuke. Gods knew where he was right now! I would utilize my time much better by going back to the festival to look at some of the other booths. But before I could make even one step, someone grabbed me and pulled me into what seemed like a broom closet. I would have yelped if there wasn’t a hand was clasped over my mouth.

“It’s me.” Someone whispered in my ear.

I pushed the hand away and turned to look at Sousuke.

“You scared me.” I scolded him, trying to make my whispering as harsh as possible. “Besides, what are you doing in this tiny space? If you’re discovered, you’ll have nowhere to run and you’ll lose!”

“Don’t worry, nobody saw me.” He reassured me, giving me a soft smile. But I saw that the corners of his mouth were trembling, as if he was going to burst into laughter any moment. “I really liked that trick you pulled on Rin.”

“Oh, you saw that?” I asked, chuckling. Sousuke’s praise made me feel a bit proud.

“Yeah. That was a good one.”

“It was so silly! I cannot believe that Rin fell for it.” I said.

“Well, to be honest, the game is pretty … uh … intense right now. That guy from your swim club … Ryugazaki, I think … he’s set up a trap.”

“A trap?” I flinched.

“Yeah. It’s pretty smart, I’ll give him that.” He shrugged.

“But you didn’t fall for it, did you?”

In response Sousuke just grinned and gestured at his perfectly dry clothes.

“I guess you’re having fun, huh?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “It’s so amazing, it feels like when Rin and I were younger. We used to do this kind of things all the time!” He suddenly faltered and looked at me, unable to hide his guilty expression. “S-sorry … I guess I just got too into this game …” He lowered his gaze. “And … I’m sorry for ignoring you today … I’ll make it up to you, I promise!”

“Sousuke, it’s fine.” I said, stepping closer to him. “I’m happy that you’re having fun, honestly. I mean, I am feeling a bit lonely, what with you guys playing, Gou off somewhere and Ollie too busy with Kisumi. Don’t ask, please!” I added just as Sousuke opened his mouth. “My point is, I’m happy that you’re having fun. I think you need this, you’ve had a rough time recently.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” He repeated. “Also … I’d like to talk with you about something.” I must have looked worried for a second, because he continued hastily. “No, don’t worry. It’s nothing bad, I swear! I just … I think we still have things we need to discuss.”

“Oh …” I frowned. Why would he tell me this now? Didn’t he know that I wouldn’t stop thinking about it and working myself up? I sighed. “Okay … um … I’ll be hanging around here, okay? So find me when you’re done.”

“Got it.” He leaned down and kissed me. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Sousuke.” I smiled.

* * *

The game ended with a draw, I think. Rin may have liked to believe that his team won, but the others definitely didn’t look like the losing team, least of all Haru. While they were drying off and chatting, Sousuke stood by my side and tapped me on the shoulder.

“Let’s go for a little walk.” He said.

“Okay.” I nodded.

Sousuke took me by the hand and led me away from the fire and the rest of the students. Soon we managed to find a solitary spot behind one of the greenhouses and sat down on the ground.

“Today was really fun.” I said, giving Sousuke a warm smile.

“Yeah, the festival turned out well.” He replied. “I honestly didn’t think Rin would be able to pull it off.”

“Hm? Why not?”

“Well … he isn’t as good of an organiser as he thinks …” Sousuke said, chuckling softly. “Let’s just say that it’s not easy to convince most guys to put on a maid’s dress.”

“Ah … well, that’s normal, right? I mean, I would feel pretty awkward if I were forced to wear a dress.”

“Why? I think you’d look cute.”

“Maybe.” I blushed. “But I’d still feel very uncomfortable.” I caught Sousuke staring at me and pouted. “Hey!” I pinched his arm. “You’re imagining me in a dress, aren’t you?!”

“Sorry!” He laughed out loud. “It was very tempting.”

“D-don’t … don’t picture such weird things!” I stuttered, flustered.

“Why are you getting so mad?” Sousuke asked teasingly. “Are you maybe just pretending to be angry because you actually like the idea of wearing a dress?”

“No! I’m mad because I don’t want you to imagine these things!” I said loudly and flushed even more as I realized that the way I sounded made it seem like I wasn’t telling the truth. I decided that the best course of action would be to smoothly change the subject. “So Rin was having problems with the café?”

“Yeah … He threatened that he’ll throw everyone who didn’t want to wear a maid dress out of the swimming team.”

“That didn’t happen really, I hope.” I said. It seemed like a very exaggerated punishment for not wearing a silly dress.

Sousuke chuckled and shook his head.

“Nah … I advised Rin to just put them in the kitchen to cook the food.” He explained.

“Smart. So you basically saved their arses. I bet that made you quite popular.”

“I don’t care about that.” He shrugged.

“Maybe you don’t, but I bet that the others like you a lot. You are so good with your teammates, I bet see you as their protector.” I said, chuckling. “Nitori told me that you helped him improve for the relay. That’s really impressive. I’m sure that you’ll make a good coach.”

I expected that this would make him smile, but instead Sousuke looked at me with a slightly shocked face. He didn’t say anything at first. After a few minutes passed in awkward silence, he looked away and sighed.

“Is that what you think I should do?” He asked quietly.

“W-well … yeah … I mean … you love swimming so much, I j-just assumed …” His reaction had caught me off guard. “Why? Do you have other plans?” I asked. We hadn’t actually discussed what Sousuke would do after graduating, but it made sense to me that he would go into coaching.

“No.”

“T-then … what will you do once you graduate?” I asked. I could feel that the conversation was becoming strained, but I kept on prying anyway. It was important, in my mind, that we discuss the future. I suddenly realized that maybe this was what Sousuke wanted to talk with me about.

“I can’t tell you.” Sousuke muttered.

“Huh? Why?!” I asked, feeling a bit offended. Why wouldn’t my boyfriend share his plans with me? His decisions for the future affected me as well, right?!

“You’ll laugh at me. It’s embarrassing.”

I smiled at Sousuke and hugged him. Sousuke was kind of cute when he was so vulnerable. I was sure that whatever he was hiding was not embarrassing at all. But when I told him so, he simply shook his head. I kept insisting, though, so he finally decided to tell me anyway.

“Remember, you promised you wouldn’t laugh.” He said. He was silent for a few seconds before he continued. “I’ve decided not to enrol in a university immediately. I want stay here and work at my father’s store. I’ll wait for you to you finish high school too. That way … we could be together. We can go study at the same place or at least … we could find a place to live in together.” I noticed that he was looking down while he talked, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Even if … Even if you go back to England, I will follow you. I want to be with you, Angel.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. I knew that this was too much to ask of him. I didn’t know where I would study yet, but I knew that if Sousuke came with me to the UK, it meant that he would leave his family and friends behind. I knew how tough that would be and wanted him to realize just what he would be sacrificing.

“Yes. I’ll learn English if I have to. In fact, Rin has been tutoring me for the past few weeks. It’s hard, but I will do it if it means that I can be with you.” He was silent for a few minutes before turning to me. “What do you think?”

“I think that’s so amazing!” I exclaimed. “That’s so cool! I mean, we can enrol in the same university and we can even live together! That sounds … really nice. But I do feel a bit guilty … are you sure you want to skip a whole year just because of me?”

“Lots of people skip a year. It’s not something unusual.” Sousuke replied, shrugging. “Besides, I can earn some extra cash that way.”

“Have you talked with your parents about that?” I asked. “What do they think?”

“My dad knows about my plan. He’s not against it. He says that I’m mature enough to make decisions about my own life.” He ran a hand through his hair. “They don’t think you’re holding me back if that’s what’s worrying you.”

I had to admit that I was worried about that. Lots of parents looked down on their children’s high school relationships. They definitely wouldn’t accept their child putting off going to college because of someone they were dating. But if Sousuke said that his parents were okay with this, then I believed him.

“I see …” I looked at Sousuke and smiled. “So … are we really doing this?” I asked, taking his hand.

“I think so, yeah.” He replied and grinned. “If you want to, of course.”

I laughed and hugged him tightly, knocking him down on the ground.

“Of course that I want to, you silly!” I said. “But you do realize that this pretty much means that you’ll be with me for at least another year, right?” I asked teasingly.

“I plan on being with you forever.” He grinned. “Did I not make that clear?”

“Hmm …” I looked up, pretending to be confused. “Nope, doesn’t ring a bell. Why don’t you remind me?”

He laughed and rolled me over so that I was lying under him. Looming over me, he smirked and pushed a few strands of hair away from my face, then leaned down to kiss me passionately.

“You remember now?” His words were barely a breath on lips. “Or should I try something else.”

“Oh, I remember.” I smiled. “But please … continue.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would anyone be interested in an Oliver/Kisumi fic?


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